For every Isaac Newton or Terry Tao there’s a 10 or 15 people who are a few years behind them.
In the case of Isaac Newton, we actually got to see this happen: Newton invented calculus several years before Leibniz’s independent re-invention, but Newton didn’t bother publishing anything about it until after he learned that Leibniz was trying to take credit for the same work Newton had already did.
In the case of Isaac Newton, we actually got to see this happen: Newton invented calculus several years before Leibniz’s independent re-invention, but Newton didn’t bother publishing anything about it until after he learned that Leibniz was trying to take credit for the same work Newton had already did.