"They Called Me Mad"

[Doug Millison]

They Called Me Mad

"The fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all  
who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they  
laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they also  
laughed at Bozo the Clown."
— Carl Sagan

"Even I laughed at me when I invented this cross-species analyzer! But  
I guess I showed myself!"
— Professor Farnsworth, Futurama

Scientists may be open to new ideas, but are not by any means paragons  
of universal open minded acceptance. This is heavily (or not)  
exaggerated in fiction. What do a peerage of scientists do when  
presented with amazing or disturbing theories that could seriously  
change everyones worldview and/or revolutionize science by one of  
their fellows? Do they test out the theory themselves, analyze it  
thoroughly, or interview their fellow scientist in an effort to find  
any truth in his "wild" theories or disburse him of them before he  
goes crackpot?

Of course not! Everyone knows that's not how you do research! They'll  
mock him, never take a second glance at his theories, and do  
everything possible to discredit him, bury his ideas, and make him  
shunned in respectable scientific circles.

The outcomes are usually:

  He will turn into a bona fide Mad Scientist and wreak havoc usually  
motivated by personal gain or revenge on the scientists who dared to  
mock him. Parodies and/or extremely cliché examples may spout out  
lines like "They all laughed at me...but I'LL SHOW THEM! I'LL SHOW  
THEM ALL!! BWAHAHAHAAA"

  He will become a slightly more tragic version of The Worm Guy, and  
be involved in a situation where his theories work. If everything goes  
smoothly, he will usually be accepted back into the community that  
once shunned him and his detractors forced to eat crow or discredited  
themselves. If it's related to MIB's or the the Masquerade, his  
vindication will be personal, but still uplifting.

He will become The Jor El if the "wild theory" is a premonition of a  
disaster. Most (usually all) of his detractors end up dead or recant  
and he is lauded a hero for preventing bigger casualties. That is,  
unless he's pragmatic, or world destroying type.

Occasionally, they will be one screw short of becoming a Mad Scientist  
before this falling out, or have the typical personal tragedy  
motivating Professor Guinea Pig. In these cases, his peers aren't so  
much fools as they are (rightly) concerned that his experiments have  
fallen down the slippery slope of scientific inquiry into grave  
robbing, god defying Mad Science.

At the outset of the story he'll usually be on hard times, and  
probably have become a recluse or in a dead-end job. Or... will use  
their Super Prototype to branch into super villainy.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheyCalledMeMad

cc: Committee on Idiopathic Archetypes