Scientific revolutions are often told as stories of triumph, yet histories of failure to revolutionize science are equally revealing. This introduction begins with L.E.J. Brouwer’s attempt to re-found mathematics on intuitionistic grounds, a bold program that mobilized worldwide debates in the 1910s and 1920s but ultimately lost ground. By foregrounding this “unsuccessful” revolution, the book highlights how resistance, controversy, and eventual dismissal illuminate the social fabric of science. In dialogue with post-Kuhnian models of scientific change, Brouwer’s story illustrates how intellectual projects are shaped not only by conceptual rigor but by institutional politics, group loyalties, and interpersonal tensions. The chapter frames intuitionism as more than a failed school: it is a case study in the dynamics of dissent, showing how the mathematics of the early twentieth century was forged at the crossroads of ideas and communities.