The great scientists of the past (e.g. Newton, Einstein, von Neumann) we're singular geniuses who created something entirely new. They developed groundbreaking theories from scratch.
Nowadays this isn't possible anymore. Science today is all about consensus. You're taught to accept today's theories as fact and only to work within their framework of assumptions. Of course you can still do research but only on minor petty things and only as long as they agree with what is accepted as theoretical fundament.
If today someone were to come up with an entirely new alternative e.g. for the standard model, then he wouldn't even get a chance to discuss it and to convince others. He'd immediately be ostracized and banned from academia as a schizo crackpot. Democracy has ruined science. Democracy is the most hostile environment against genius.
