I’m not aware of any cases of people conceiving of specific technologies hundreds of years down the chain based on any meaningful understanding of the principles at work.
I would assume that’s because, when you’re working hundreds of years down the chain, chances are very high that you’ll run in to some unexpected obstacle, and the final result will look sufficiently different that we dismiss the previous idea as having missed the true target (for instance, 1800s “space cannons” vs modern rocket ships).
That said, Tesla and Fermat both strike me as potential examples. It’s unclear whether they were making assertions without evidence to back themselves up, or if they really had a decent insight in to what we’d be doing centuries down the road, though. Tesla is largely considered crazy, but Fermat fascinated people long enough that they spent a few hundred years proving his last theorum (hey, an example of a 200 year waiting period!)
I would assume that’s because, when you’re working hundreds of years down the chain, chances are very high that you’ll run in to some unexpected obstacle, and the final result will look sufficiently different that we dismiss the previous idea as having missed the true target (for instance, 1800s “space cannons” vs modern rocket ships).
That said, Tesla and Fermat both strike me as potential examples. It’s unclear whether they were making assertions without evidence to back themselves up, or if they really had a decent insight in to what we’d be doing centuries down the road, though. Tesla is largely considered crazy, but Fermat fascinated people long enough that they spent a few hundred years proving his last theorum (hey, an example of a 200 year waiting period!)