Oliver Heaviside - Maybe not remembered or appreciated for his contributions but much of his work is still applicable in various diverse fields today. Being self taught probably put him at a disadvantage with the establishment but valuable contributions to engineering and science in the 1800's were often by such individuals. On a practical note is his solution to transmission issues with long distance telegraphy (electromagnetic pulses along a waveguide in real terms). As is usual with the establishment who "know better," his solution using inductors to resolve the merging of pulses over distance along the telegraph wires (waveguide) wasn't adopted by the post office until 20 years later. This issue was comparable to the transmission of data at gigahertz rates in present day circuits.

Oliver Heaviside - Maybe not remembered or appreciated for his contributions but much of his work is still applicable in various diverse fields today. Being self taught probably put him at a disadvantage with the establishment but valuable contributions to engineering and science in the 1800's were often by such individuals. On a practical note is his solution to transmission issues with long distance telegraphy (electromagnetic pulses along a waveguide in real terms). As is usual with the establishment who "know better," his solution using inductors to resolve the merging of pulses over distance along the telegraph wires (waveguide) wasn't adopted by the post office until 20 years later. This issue was comparable to the transmission of data at gigahertz rates in present day circuits.