Can "It wasn't until ... that" be used as a contradictory sentence? [closed]

Here is an example from the ACT June 2010 (68C):

Birkeland's work was ridiculed by many of the era's top scientists, who scoffed at the notion that electrons from the sun could reach Earth's magnetic field from such a great distance. However, it wasn't until the 1960s, when satellites first proved the existence of a "solar wind" of particles sweeping past Earth, that Birkeland's central tenet was substantiated.

The question is asking whether to use "However," or omit it, adjusting the proper punctuation. I first made it to leave however as it is because it indicates that despite the ridiculous behavior of the era's top scientists, Birkeland's idea turned to be right at the end. It turns out that omitting however is the correct answer. Can someone explain please?

I would summarize these two sentences as:

• Birkeland's work was ridiculed by scientists.
• Birkeland's central tenet was not substantiated before the 1960s.

Both of these sentences are describing how Birkeland's work was thought to be wrong; the second sentence reinforces the first one. So the word "however" is not appropriate.

Notice that the sentence structure "it wasn't until the 1960s that the tenet was substantiated" places the emphasis on the fact that the tenet was not substantiated prior to the 1960s.

In order to emphasize the fact that the tenet was substantiated in the 1960s, we would have to use a different sentence structure. For example, we could write:

Birkeland's work was ridiculed by many of the era's top scientists, who scoffed at the notion that electrons from the sun could reach Earth's magnetic field from such a great distance. However, in the 1960s, satellites finally proved the existence of a "solar wind" of particles sweeping past Earth, thereby substantiating Birkeland's central tenet.

There may be some that stylistically would remove the 'however' in every case. In this case, though, I believe 'however' is misused. The first sentence is about Birkland’s work and its being ridiculed. The flawed understanding of science is essentially a modifier that provides clarity to what the work was. 'However' typically introduces a clarifying statement presenting a counter argument.

But in this case, that’s not the point of these two sentences together. The point is Birkland’s work and the path of its acceptance. 'However' is not being used to dispute the path. It’s being used to dispute the modifier. And that is not the correct way to write this. In contrast, 'it wasn’t until' describes the point at which the ridicule stopped and the work was accepted. As a functional phrase it provides the timeline. These two sentences together are providing a timeline about their subject/object, ie the relative acceptance of Birkland’s work.