In my first certificate there were 17 co-authors. The idea was conceived by three of us, then the vice president, the pro-rector of science, the rest - the chief engineers of all the factories, where you could try to try it at least.
_____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

This is something else. A friend (now a doctor of pharmaceutical sciences, a well-known professor of pharmacology) told me. They synthesized in their youth a new cool medicine, tried it in every way. A real breakthrough in pharmacology. And in the patent (or the author's certificate, I don't remember already) entered a bunch of co-authors cool and deserved. There is a maximum number of co-authors. Well, she (then the young candidate of sciences) was removed from the list.
She was offended and left.
It came to the production of the drug and the breakdown. How to synthesize this drug and its components according to the formula, only she knew.

Eventually, the whole horde of professors rushed to beg her to return. They removed some of the co-authors, restored their authorship, restored their positions.

As she says, there would be no happiness, but misfortune helped :)