I left the world of protein folding in 1987 (quit my PhD) because I was certain that workable solutions were at least 25 years away, and I didn't think I was that kind of person to beat my head against a problem for more than two decades.
By 2013 (25 years later), still no real progress on protein folding.
By 2013 (25 years later), still no real progress on protein folding.
In 2018 (30 years later) AlphaFold was revealed.