A.Gopnik on the clever stupidity of the scientific method (p.21):

"...the Piagets' diaries so astonishing. But what makes a science really advance isn't just the astonishing geniuses, it's the methods that allow us ordinary idiots to do the same thing as the astonishing geniuses.
...The new technology of video recording and the new theories of cognitive science turned the pioneering ideas of Piage and Vygotsky into a full-fledged research enterprise.
"

It appears that science follows the same general innovation pattern as any other technology. Once a dominant design, in this case a  scientific proof, is established, the focus of innovation in a particular field shifts to process, methods, and tools.