[DrBazza]

Worked with a bunch of plasma physics postdocs in the early 90s, and fusion was 30 years away... checks calendar... 34 years ago. And that was the joke then.

However, with advances like REBCO tape and so on, it's far more realistic now. I hope we get it in my lifetime, but I'm not confident.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

I left the world of protein folding in 1987 (quit my PhD) because I was certain that workable solutions were at least 25 years away, and I didn't think I was that kind of person to beat my head against a problem for more than two decades.

By 2013 (25 years later), still no real progress on protein folding.

In 2018 (30 years later) AlphaFold was revealed.