In praise of simplicity

I just finished reading the sentinel paper published by Dr Norman Nigro in 1973 on the use of combination radiation and chemotherapy for the treatment of anal cancer. In it, he proposed using these modalities as an adjunct to surgery. Eventually he discovered that these patients did not need surgery at all. In his brilliant first paper on this topic, he cited a total of 5 references. Most academic papers have way more than that. I have read that Einstein's paper on relativity cited no references. I guess when you have something truly original, you can just simply state what you think.