The Semmelweis Reflex:
It's a metaphor for the tendency to reject new evidence or knowledge as it contradicts established norms.
Dr. Semmelweis was a hungarian doctor who discovered the importance of hand washing in obstetrical clinics in 1847. He tried to spread the word to other doctors but was largely ridiculed and harassed by the medical community. Finally, after he faught this battle for many years, they thought he was going crazy and committed him to an asylum. He died 14 days later; it was 1865. 18 years had passed with little to show for his effort to bring about change.
Wouldn't you think the medical community would try washing their hands to see if it improved the survival rates in their clinics? In his clinic, he reduced fatalities, from puerperal fevor, from 10% down to 1-2%.
He was right but he was only one doctor against many. The other doctors could have discredited him by saying: "99.9% of the scientific community does not believe that hand washing is of any importance."
So it seems that it doesn't always matter how many scientists you have on one side or the other.
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