Serendipity happens when someone finds something for which they weren’t looking. This phenomenon is very present in the scientific world, as many experiments end up being applicable in other areas of science. This is especially common in the field of chemistry, where penicillin is just one example of a chemical product made in a serendipitous discovery. Even though serendipity can be described as “luck,” serendipity in the scientific world is also partially a result of intelligence and education. Even though the person who discovered penicillin was not looking for it, he still had to realize that the substance he created had antibiotic properties. He also had to realize the connection that these properties were applicable in the medicinal world. Without proper knowledge of both chemicals and human biology, he would have had no idea that the compound that he created is significant in the treatment of illnesses, or how to use this chemical. Serendipitous discovery can show someone what they were not looking for, but the person who discovers it ultimately has to realize the practical application of what he just discovered, and often this takes both training and knowledge.
Another thing that is important for serendipitous discovery, especially in science, is that the researcher must have an open mind. This takes more training than one would think. Too often people work on an experiment and only look for the result that they expect, while ignoring every other possible result. This is a huge problem because it leaves many possibilities that could end up being valuable unexplored. If the person who discovered penicillin was not open to any results other than the ones he expected in the experiment then the antibiotic would have never been discovered.
Serendipity is the occurrence of events by chance in a fortunate and beneficial way. One of the best examples of serendipity would be the Post-it Notes. Post-it Notes were discovered and created by Spencer Silver, but it was certainly not intentional by any means. Silver was attempting to create a strong adhesive that would allow things to stick together effectively. Instead, he ended up creating something that was incredibly weak and was easily ripped off the surface it was stuck to. Later on down the road, this invention turned out to be beneficial. It was then turned into a Post-it Note that allowed consumers to write on a piece of paper that stuck to surfaces as reminders. This is serendipity, because it was unintentionally discovered by attempting to create something else, in turn, becoming beneficial for a different reason.
ReplyDeleteIn brief, this serendipitous event is chance, not luck. Luck and serendipity are two entirely different concepts. If this were to be luck, Silver would not have been trying to create something else; he would have stumbled upon Post-it Notes all by itself. Instead, Silver was attempting to invent a glue that had strong enough adhesive to stick, but later found out that it was quite the contrary. Regardless, the fact that it was beneficial is the most important. Because the adhesive benefited for a greater cause it can be called “serendipity.” If it were to be discovered upon no other basis and just by the means of “throwing things together,” then and only then would it have been considered luck.
Comment on Serendipity : Luck or Intelligence:
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that serendipity is related to intelligence. Without intelligence, some people tend to miss serendipity because they ignored their results without researching why what occurred had occurred. This was well written and straight to the point. You listed good scenarios as to how serendipity comes about.
-Danielle Overton
Comment on the post/comment by RahulIyer:
ReplyDeleteI liked how you were able to clearly get your view point across on serendipity through the use of a specific example. I thought it was very informative and well written. However, is everything that is discovered without looking for it beneficial? And is luck truly unrelated or is there small parts of luck in discovering these outcomes? I viewed serendipity more as just the discovery of something you were not expected to find. Only the more popular serendipity outcomes were beneficial, and the others just led to further research or were noted is what I beleive. All around a very well-written post.
Drew Elliott A4