They do say you never convince scientists with the contrary opinion, you just have to wait for them to die off. I recall reading that there were still scientists who didn't believe in atoms late into the nineteenth century.

Plate tectonics didn't really become a thing until the seventies. I did a geology O-level at school in 1969 and the idea wasn't even mentioned then. About three years later, the BBC did a Nigel Calder science special, Restless Earth, that popularised the idea. (I still have the tie-in book.) I imagine it would have taken at least 20 years for the old guard to die off.