I don't think it's fair to say he has pushed food science forward.

He piggy-backed on the work of real food scientists and revealed things to the public that have been common in professional kitchens for decades, but then where he adds his own methods the evidence is often "trust me bro".

As someone who grew up in the household of two chefs one classically trained the other a development chef I see James Lopez as little more than a loud-mouthed amateur, have you tried his no-knead pizza dough, it's absolutely shocking, I think he later tried to distance himself from it claiming it came from another chef.