My personal view on adaptivity (M.Lautsch)

1982   ordinary differential equations, Runge Kutta, Error estimation, stepsize control = 1D adaptive meshing,
1983 - 1987   partial differential equations, Finite Element, fast linear Multigrid solvers, but no adaptivity

1987 - 2006   automotive CAE

1987   Engineers say: Tetras do not work
1990   Zienkiewicz Error criterion at MEDINA
1994   3D Delaunay meshing, Engineers say: linear tetras do not work
          this disabels the simplest error control - by the quadratic add on.
1992-2000   mesh coarsen, refine, improve at MEDINA

2006   LFE
2016   MMT's adaptivity is the fundamental principle of mesh generation.