There are many people in the history that deserve admiration, whether for your works to humanity, or for your convictions to continue with his professions in spite of the censures of society. All know that in the past was very difficult have a professions when you are different for society, for example Oscar Wilde judged and imprisoned for be homosexual but he did not give up and today his novels are a classic of literature or also Rosalind Franklin that still not appears in the texts how an important contributor in the structure of DNA.
But in this post I will mention to scientist Barbara McClintock(1902-1992) a great collaborator in the cytogenetics. Doctor in botany and leader of the cytogenetic group, she found of genetic recombination by crossing-over during meiosis (aspect very important in the genetic). Although your first papers was discredit, but only when two scientific published the same discovery a few years later they gave it the importance it deserved
I choose this scientific for your perseverance and works, also because I like his field of research (plants)