It's not a sad story. It's a lesson to others.

It's interesting how the story switches between reasons. To me, the most salient is: "could not overcome Heisenberg's complete lack of interest and gave up the effort".

Attention to detail has been one of my largest issues in mistakes I've made, and this reminds me that sometimes that's what is required.

And sometimes what's required is putting a draft on arxiv.org and waiting for the criticism or roast.

Growing up in a house where your parent is worried about your performance in a subfield and reaches out to experts in the field. That's the complicated double-edged sword.