An apex experiment is like a blockbuster movie

Of course, a lot of blockbuster movies suck.

I guess an apex experiment is sorta related to the notion of a seminal experiment or discovery. “Seminal” is, I believe, a Latin term meaning “related to seeds”. So as I understand it, a seminal paper does not necessarily describe a momentous discovery itself, just one that engenders a lot of other research. I guess Fermat’s note about ∀ n>2 an+bn ≠ cn was seminal, in that the pursuit of that proof gave rise to so many interesting results that Fermat’s problem became almost a footnote.

And, of course, there was the Michelson-Morley experiment, which put the final nail in the aether’s coffin, and allowed physicists to put it behind them and move on.