Except Penrose is like Chomsky. They have past accomplishments, but nothing recent and everybody keeps bringing them up because they constantly comment on stuff so far outside of their area of expertise it's not funny anymore, it's just sad.

At least Penrose had the good manners to make relevant contributions (meaning Chomsky effectively managed to steer his field in entirely the wrong direction, take everybody along with nothing to show for it. Nobody uses his contributions today in study. Yes he's celebrated ... but why? He's like a prime minister that presided over a country causing an economic crisis, throwing everyone into misery. I guess those are exactly the kind of politicians celebrated. Bush is celebrated while he destroyed half the economy, Clinton is forgotten (well, except for that one thing) despite being the best president of the last 50+ years economically)