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star trek - Why did Scotty not recognize the inventor of transparent aluminum?


Skipping over a few other inconsistencies in this particular scene of Star Trek IV (such as Scotty's amazingly efficient use of an obsolete computer system with which he'd likely have no prior familiarity), a question has come to mind about the exchange that takes place just past the end of that clip.



NICHOLS: Transparent aluminum?
SCOTT: That's the ticket, laddie.
NICHOLS: It would take years just to figure out the dynamics of this matrix.
McCOY: Yes, but you'd be rich beyond the dreams of avarice.
SCOTT: So, is it worth something to you? Or should I just punch up 'clear'.
NICHOLS: No! No! (a female employee comes into the office) ...Not now Madeline! ...What exactly did you have in mind?

McCOY: Well, a moment alone, please. ...Do you realise of course, if we give him the formula, we're altering the future.
SCOTT: Why? How do we know he didn't invent the thing!



Let's presume that Scotty did, as he demonstrated, have such intimate knowledge of the chemical properties and manufacturing processes involved in creating transparent aluminum that he could whip together the essentials on a Macintosh Plus in under twenty seconds. Wouldn't an individual with such knowledge also be fairly familiar with the history of its development - or at least familiar enough to recognize the name of its inventor when he met him?


For comparison: Most high school graduates these days probably don't know the first thing about how to manufacture a polio vaccine. But I'm fairly certain that most people (let alone most pharmaceutical researchers), when put into the proper context as Scotty has been here, would realize who they've been introduced to when a man says "Hi, I'm Jonas Salk".



Answer



In the novelization Scotty specifically said that Nichols did invent transparent aluminum, which makes more sense.



"Scotty," McCoy said, "if we give him the formula, we'll be altering the future!"


"How d'ye know he didn't invent the process?" Scott said.



"But-"


"Dr. McCoy, do ye no' understand? He did invent it! Have ye ne'er heard his name?"


"I'm a doctor not a historian," McCoy growled. He had gone into this masquerade willingly, but now he found himself possessed with the need to make as few changes to the past as he could. The intensity of Jim Kirk's argument for their actions warred with another, alien impluse.


"'Tisna necessary to be a historian to know o' Marcus Nichols! Why, 'twould be as if I never heard o' ... er ..."


"Pasteur?"


"Who?"


"Yalow? Arneghe?"


"Nay, well, ne'er mind, the point is Nichols did invent transparent aluminum! And that was the only the beginnin' o' his achievements. 'Tis all right we gi' the formula to him - perhaps 'tis essential!"



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