An analogy that occurred to me is cooking.

I learned how to make roast chicken (and many other things) from Laurie Colwin. Well, I didn't cook in her kitchen, but she wrote columns and published recipes so that a) more people would learn how to cook well (and easily), and b) she could make some money teaching us.

Have people made it before her? Sure. But she presented it in a way that caught my imagination and made me want to learn from her, enjoy it, and share it with others. So, I tell people I learned from Laurie Colwin, and lead them to her writing.

Dani