ABSTRACT
Almost all significant or breakthrough scientific inventions were met with skepticism from the world scientific community in the initial stages. This is natural, for the human brain appears to be conditioned to deny any concept it first encounters that is not supported by convincing and rational reasoning or proof. However, this does not appear to be an absolute rule, because the human brain does accept, knowingly or unknowingly, concepts based on mere intuition. A suggestion by McBain regarding the formation of molecular aggregates in an aqueous solution of surfactant at the turn of the 20th century was treated with incredulity by the leading scientists of the time. McBain pointed out in a lecture to the Royal Society of London that unusual solution properties of an aqueous solution of surfactant above a critical surfactant concentration could be explained by surfactant aggregation under such conditions.
