Before the advent of human cryogenic technology, this brilliantly talented scientist had no choice but to waste life and talent in a pointless waiting game.
Even if he had shifted his focus and made achievements in other areas, their significance would not be as profound as that of the major project that could span his entire life.
If human cryogenic technology were available, it would allow the same person to wait for thousands or even tens of thousands of years for a project to mature, and undertake even grander and more significant research. How would civilization look then?
Perhaps someone might say, as a mentor, can't you cultivate students? Don't you have successors?
But each successor takes time to learn from their mentor, and different people inevitably have different ways of thinking about problems.
Some projects require a continuous line of thinking.
Tutoring successors is inherently a massive trial-and-error process.
