You might be entertained to learn that this happens _all the time_. The spearpoint of application is often a _long way_ from the theory. So much so that they can miss obvious things.
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9602/rediscover...
(Dont' skip the comments)
Sometimes to hilarious results:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7677819/
