Would you really be willing to risk the continuum by saving them?
Contributing the science is a small precision strike with somewhat predictable consequences saving people you don't know is a mixed bag it could have good consequences or it could have negative consequences and in ways you could never have predicted.
The aim of a time traveler should be to keep as low as a footprint as you can and keep it positive or another time traveler may just have to come back in time to kill your ass to prevent your recklessness.
Contributing the science is a small precision strike with somewhat predictable consequences saving people you don't know is a mixed bag it could have good consequences or it could have negative consequences and in ways you could never have predicted.
The aim of a time traveler should be to keep as low as a footprint as you can and keep it positive or another time traveler may just have to come back in time to kill your ass to prevent your recklessness.