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# Too good to be true?

## Abstract

Scientific discovery is often perceived as associated with a single act of genius or a moment in time that changes one's thinking and scientific discourse. Most scientists know that this perception is almost always far from reality. Scientific discovery is reached through long, persistent effort from groups of people who are willing to take risks and are not afraid to fail. Equally important is that funders of scientific research appreciate the need for such persistent effort and do not look only for easily identifiable, short-term benefits. We may occasionally recognize historic ‘moments’, but these often occur because of the less famous but equally important advances that came before, often over decades of work.

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## Acknowledgements

As a long-term member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC), the author is grateful to all LSC members for their enormous contributions that led to the LIGO discoveries.

## Author information

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Correspondence to Vicky Kalogera.

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### Competing interests

The author declares no competing financial interests

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Kalogera, V. Too good to be true?. Nat Astron 1, 0112 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-017-0112

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• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-017-0112