That's even more annoying than those fucking goth chicks that spell "the" "thee".In 01600, astronomer Johannes Kepler bet his rival Christian Longomontanus that he could derive the formula for the solar orbit of Mars in eight days. It took him five years. Kepler lost the bet, but his calculations ultimately helped bring about modern astronomy. In 01870, flat earther John Hampden made a 500 pound bet with naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace (who, it should be noted, conceived of the theory of evolution independent of Darwin) that he could prove the Earth was flat using the Bedford Level Experiment.
Turns out it took 30 years for people to figure out why the Bedford Level Experiment looked like it was valid. Then again it took me a week to reliably solve basic optical refraction problems when it was already figured out and taught to me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯