In any field of endeavour, it is impossible to make a significant contribution without first being strongly influenced by past achievements within that field.

In all walks of life, past achievements can be used as a stepping stone to make any significant contribution. Other factors can also influence the contributions to that field. It is going to far to say that it is impossible to make a significant contribution without first being strongly influenced by past achievements within that field.

First, the statement fails to consider that the very first people who made different contributions in their field had no one to influence them. In fact, the fact that they start from scratch, has helped them develop their skills of problem solving and creativity. The Wright brothers got the idea of making planes from birds not from a prominent aerospace engineer.

Second, if one is strongly influenced by past legends, he may lose his ability to break away from conventional schools of thoughts. We may also lose our ability to think outside the box. Albert Einstein made his breakthrough discovery because he was able to avoid the influence of the old Newtonian physics ideologies. So anyone who wants to create a big achievement in his field of endeavour has to be ready to embrace new point of view.

Of course many new achievements build up on past achievements and of course many current big names in any field are influenced by legends from the past. But to claim that it is impossible to achieve big without the influence of the past is unsubstantiated.