| I'm just a bystander with no understanding of the specifics, but there are lots of general reasons why it might happen this way: 1. The discovery was in a university research context, where publishing results is normal practice. 2. Maybe publication was mandated by the funding source. 3. Maybe it's not yet certain that it's a breakthrough and they want more eyes on it to help validate. 4. Maybe they want to be publicly acknowledged as the discoverers, for future patent/prize/fame purposes. 5. Maybe it's so early stage, or with so many practical limitations, that it is not yet ready to be industrialized. 6. Maybe the recipe is so simple that there's no realistic way to contain knowledge of it. 7. Maybe it's a revolutionary technology that will save the world and the best outcome for everybody, including the researchers, is to get it into as many hands as possible. No need to invoke conspiracy. |