They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.
Tbf, we should still be laughing at Columbus. He didn’t prove the Earth was round, we knew that already. He died believing he had “discovered” India. That and he was a racist, baby killing, monster that inflicted such barbaric actions towards the Native Americans that even members of his own crew were like “Whoa there. They might be godless savages, but this is really fucked up. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
To his defense, what you describe was pretty much the rule back then before the 1700, for “nobles” I mean.
He was literally arrested and imprisoned in Spain because of the fucked up shit he did in the Americas. Even the aristocrats thought he was fucked up, which is really saying something.