Almost all top level physicists in 1930 were highly dismissive about the atomic bomb. Except a handful of them, like Leo Szilard, who even patented it.
Yet, you could not say that Rutherford hasn’t discovered a thing, because he did. He split the atom, but did not believe that atoms are splitable enough for an atomic bomb.
What important things have those characters you’ve interviewed discovered?
FTFY.
Thank you.