A Good Start

A seminar speaker today said:

"A good way to start a successful career in science is to make an outrageous claim that will take decades to disprove."

Then he quote one such claim made in 1967, which, according to the speaker, was very famous. But I had never heard of it, and didn't understand its meaning at all.

However, since it was supposed to be "outrageous", and hopefully had been disproved, I think I was fine.