Serendipity - "guided" discovery

Serendipity - "guided" discovery

Scientists are not passive recipients of the unexpected; rather, they actively create the conditions for discovering the unexpected. — Kevin Dunbar and Jonathan Fugelsang

Dr Abe V Rotor

Stories about "accidental" discoveries are not few; they are found mainly in science such as the classical discovery of Penicillin by Alexander Fleming. He also serendipitously discovered the antibacterial enzyme lysozyme. This enzyme is present in our mucus, saliva, and tears. Fleming found the enzyme after he sneezed—or dropped nasal mucus—on a petri dish full of bacteria. He noticed that some of the bacteria died where the mucus had contaminated the dish. Fleming discovered that the mucus contained a protein that was responsible for the destruction of the bacterial cells. He named this protein lysozyme. Fleming's discovery changed medicine forever.


20 "Accidental" Discoveries 

1. The Microwave - Percy L. Spencer
2. Saccharin - Ira Remsen, Constantin Fahlberg
3. Slinky - Richard James
4. Play-Doh - Kutol Products
5. Super Glue - Harry Coover
6. Teflon - Roy Plunket
7. Bakelite - Leo Baekeland
8. Pacemaker - Wilson Greatbatch
9. Velcro - George de Mestral
10. 10. X-Rays - Wilhelm Roentgen
11. Vulcanized rubber - Charles Goodyear 
12. Vaseline - Robert Chesebrough 
13. Pacemaker - Wilson Greatbatch
14. Prototype strikeable match - John Walker
15. Gunpowder - Ninth-century Chinese alchemists
16. Nuclear fission - Enrico Fermi
17. First synthetic dye called Mauve - William Perkins
18. Safety Glass - Edouard Benedictus
19. Anesthesia - Horace Wells and Charles Jackson 
20. Aspartame - James Schlatter

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Serendipity is a happy and unexpected event that apparently occurs due to chance and often appears when we are searching for something else. Serendipity is a delight when it happens in our daily lives and has been responsible for many innovations and important advances in science and technology. - Linda Crampton

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Providential Discovery 

Pierre Curie, husband of Marie Curie, was stooping over a microscope in the laboratory.  A student entered, and not noticing the microscope, he thought that the scientist as praying and began tip-toeing out of the room.  Curie turned and called him back.

"I thought you were praying, sir," he student tried to explain his retreat. 

"I was, son," said Curie with the usual simplicity and again turned to the microscope.

He then added: "All science, research and study is prayer, prayer that God will reveal His eternal secrets to us.  For God does have secrets which He reveals only when man searches reverently for them.  God did not make all of His revelations in the past.  He is continually revealing Himself, His plans, and His truths to those who will search for them."  (Reference: Anecdotes of the Great that help build a better life, a compilation by J Maurus)