One could easily adopt the idea that the history of science is "Some smart guy figured this out" over and over again.
The real history of science is: A lot of people became interested in problems and worked on theory and test apparatus and put their ideas into public discussion and eventually and sometimes suddenly we developed narratives and equations that explain observations. Along the way there was a lot of contention and conflict.
It is easy to retrofit many simple stories onto science.
In this case the "smart guy who figured it out" usually didn't understand the discovery in the same way that we do today. Something was figured out, but typically not in the modern glory that we explain it with today.
The equations don’t just congeal out of the air, no matter how many people are thinking about the problems. They are indeed the results of some smart people figuring things out.
The real history of science is: A lot of people became interested in problems and worked on theory and test apparatus and put their ideas into public discussion and eventually and sometimes suddenly we developed narratives and equations that explain observations. Along the way there was a lot of contention and conflict.