This is going slightly offtopic, but since you're bringing up this example, can I ask you for a link/citation for that list of physicists? I'm a bit surprised by the story, since Einstein's work was I believe internationally recognised almost immediately.
(Nevertheless, the man was probably worth quite a number of randomly chosen peers indeed :))
I don't know about those 5000 physicists against Einstein, but:
> Einstein was attacked by some with anti-Jewish leanings. When a pamphlet was published entitled 100 Authors Against Einstein, Einstein retorted "If I were wrong, one would be enough."
http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Einstein.html
(Nevertheless, the man was probably worth quite a number of randomly chosen peers indeed :))