Then of course, there are people like the famed astronomer Fred Whipple,
who considered Archaeopteryx's plumage to be a hoaxer's creation,
Don't you mean astronomer Fred Hoyle, not Fred Whipple?
Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe (1986). "Archaeopteryx: The
Primordial Bird." A Case of Fossil Forgery, Christopher Davies Publishers,
Swansea.
Says John Maddox (2001; Nature 413: 270): "Fred Hoyle, who died on 20
August at the age of 86, was the most imaginative of men, a kind of
Leonardo. He made monumental contributions to astrophysics and cosmology,
and was a brilliant popularizer (and science-fiction writer and occasional
playwright). He also put his name to much rubbish and was embroiled in
controversy for most of his life. [snip] The most egregious example was the
allegation that the British Natural History Museum's specimen of
_Archaeopteryx_ is a forgery. Even his best friends were at a loss to know
why he behaved in such a way in this and other instances."
(Incidentally, it was Hoyle who coined the term "Big Bang", as a sarcarstic
aside in a 1952 broadcast.)