Two things spring to mind.

Asimov made his first professional sale as a teenager. "Marooned Off Vesta" used actual science to tell the story. Even if it was elementary stuff, it made a good story. You don't have to invent crazy tech if you actually know about science.

The other is in "Cryptonomicon" by Neal Stephenson. There's a long passage where he goes into advanced number theory. The first time I read the book I just skipped over it, and the second time I slogged through it. Later I was talking about the book with another guy. He told me his wife was in a post-grad astrophysics program. She showed the passage to her professor, who told her that it was all kosher.