As a society, we often praise individuals for their enormous contributions to science, like how almost everyone has Einstein, Newton, Tesla, Turing, Gauß or Marie Curie in mind when thinking about the stereotypical genius, and I think generally it's a good thing that we elevate those people to such a high degree.
But it also got me thinking, isn't this praising of single individuals kind of a fallacy, because if it weren't for them specifically, eventually (and also likely not longer after the said individual found out), someone else would've found out the same?
Is my premise even right in the first place, or are individual contributions actually as "objectively groundbreaking" and unique as we normally see them?