A turning point in the history of finance

The debate before and after the publication of the famous Fama/French (1992) paper:

"Whenever a well-established paradigm is questioned, the reaction will be swift and often aggressive. It is no different in the world of academic finance. This is a good thing, as long as the reaction is honest and straightforward. Well-established prior beliefs should not be abandoned unless the contrary evidence is rigorously analyzed and found to be valid."

"The give-and-take that followed Fama/French (1992) represents one of the more interesting strands of the academic finance literature. Many a graduate student found a dissertation topic buried in this debate. One of the nice aspects of this area of inquiry was the fact that most of the important questions could be answered, if the researcher could find the necessary data. The papers that were written in response to the criticisms of Fama/French (1992) have impacted both the practice of finance and the theoretical study of financial economics. Seldom has an area of academic inquiry had so much real-world application."

Explaining Stock Returns: A Literature Survey