It's from a time when academics (physics at least) was less interested in appearance and more interested in results. It's why there were so many breakthroughs. Today that has shifted with physics being more of a fashion contest to get funding.
This may be true but this is surely a bad example: Dirac's thesis is about Quantum Mechanics which is also one of the most fashioned research topics these days. So it's either a "result" or just a "fashioned topic" but it cannot be both at the same time.
On a side note, I wouldn't call (La)TeX a fashioned tool that scientists use to impress other people and get funding.
