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Serendipity

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Serendipity (disambiguation).
"Happy accident" redirects here. For other uses, see Happy Accidents.
Horace Walpole
by Joshua Reynolds
Robert K. Merton 1965

Serendipity is an unplanned fortunate discovery.[1] In 1754 Horace Walpole coined the word and described an amazing discovery as being “of that kind which I call Serendipity”. Robert K. Merton first came upon the concept-and-term of serendipity in the 1930s in the Oxford English Dictionary. Here, he discovered that the word had been coined by Walpole. Merton revealed 1946 his concept of the “serendipity pattern” in empirical research, of observing an unanticipated, anomalous, and strategic datum, which becomes the occasion for developing a new theory.[2] Merton describes it later as „the discovery through chance by a theoretically prepared mind of valid findings which were not sought for“[3][4]

Christian Busch views serendipity as "active luck," where chance encounters and human action come together. Unlike passive luck, such as being born into a privileged family, serendipity emerges when individuals actively engage with unexpected events. A missed flight or a casual walk in the park can lead to new friendships, interests, or even career opportunities. It is about seeing what others do not see, consciously recognising random observations and transforming them into opportunities. [5][6]

The concept is often associated with scientific and technological breakthroughs, where accidental discoveries led to new insights or inventions. For example, many significant discoveries in history, such as penicillin, Post-it notes, Viagra, or the microwave, arose from unforeseen circumstances that were then recognized and capitalized upon.[7][8][9]

While in popular usage often understood as a matter of pure chance, scientific discussions emphasize the crucial role of human agency—recognizing, interpreting, and acting upon unexpected opportunities. This interaction between chance and conscious action has been a key theme in areas such as creativity, leadership, innovation, and entrepreneurship[6][10][11]

Etymology

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The first noted use of "serendipity" was by Horace Walpole on 28 January 1754. In a letter he wrote to his friend Horace Mann, Walpole explained an unexpected discovery he had made about a lost painting of Bianca Cappello by Giorgio Vasari[12] by reference to a Persian fairy tale, The Three Princes of Serendip. The princes, he told his correspondent, were "always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of."[13] The name comes from Serendip, an old Persian name for Sri Lanka (Ceylon), hence Sarandib by Arab traders.[14] It is derived from the Sanskrit Siṃhaladvīpaḥ (Siṃhalaḥ, Sinhalese + dvīpaḥ, island).[15]

The word has been exported into many other languages, with the general meaning of "unexpected discovery" or "fortunate chance".[16][17]

Applications

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Inventions

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Serendipitous inventions
Post-It Note
Velcro
Silly Putty
Popsicle
Penicillin

The term "serendipity" is often applied to inventions made by chance rather than intent. Andrew Smith, editor of The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink, has speculated that most everyday products had serendipitous roots, with many early ones related to animals. The origin of cheese, for example, possibly originated in the nomad practice of storing milk in the stomach of a dead camel that was attached to the saddle of a live one, thereby mixing rennet from the stomach with the milk stored within.[18]

Other examples of serendipity in inventions include:

  • The Post-It Note, which emerged after 3M scientist Spencer Silver produced a weak adhesive, and a colleague used it to keep bookmarks in place on a church hymnal.[18]
  • Silly Putty, which came from a failed attempt at synthetic rubber.[18]
  • The use of sensors to prevent automobile air bags from killing children, which came from a chair developed by the MIT Media Lab for a Penn and Teller magic show.[18]
  • The microwave oven. Raytheon scientist Percy Spencer first patented the idea behind it after noticing that emissions from radar equipment had melted the candy in his pocket.[19]
  • The Velcro hook-and-loop fastener. George de Mestral came up with the idea after a bird hunting trip when he viewed cockleburs stuck to his pants under a microscope and saw that each burr was covered with tiny hooks.[20]
  • The Popsicle, whose origins go back to San Francisco where Frank Epperson, age 11, accidentally left a mix of water and soda powder outside to freeze overnight.[21]
  • The polymer teflon, which Roy J. Plunkett observed forming a white mass inside a pressure bottle during an effort to make a new CFCs refrigerant.[22]
  • The antibiotic penicillin, which was discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming after returning from a vacation to find that a Petri dish containing staphylococcus culture had been infected by a Penicillium mold, and no bacteria grew near it.[23]
  • The effect on humans of the psychedelic lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) was discovered by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann in 1943, after unintentionally ingesting an unknown amount, possibly absorbing it through his skin.[24]

Discoveries

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The serendipitous discovery of the Malasian ''[[Semachrysa jade]]'' [[lacewing]]as a new species was made on [[Flickr]]
The serendipitous discovery of a new species of lacewing, Semachrysa jade, was made on Flickr

Serendipity contributed to entomologist Shaun Winterton discovering Semachrysa jade, a new species of lacewing, which he found not in its native Malaysia, but on the photo-sharing site Flickr. Winterton's discovery was aided by Flickr's ability to present images that are personalized to a user's interests, thereby increasing the odds he would chance upon the photo. Computer scientist Jaime Teevan has argued that serendipitous discovery is promoted by such personalisation, writing that "people don't know what to do with random new information. Instead, we want information that is at the fringe of what we already know, because that is when we have the cognitive structures to make sense of the new ideas."[25]

Online activity

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Serendipity is a design principle for online activity that would present viewpoints that diverge from those participants already hold. Harvard Law professor Cass Sunstein argues that such an "architecture of serendipity" would promote a healthier democracy. Like a great city or university, "a well-functioning information market" provides exposure to new ideas, people, and ways of life. "Serendipity is crucial because it expands your horizons. You need that if you want to be free."[26] The idea has potential application in the design of social media, information searches, and web browsing.[27][28]

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Several uncommonly used terms have been derived from the concept and name of serendipity.

William Boyd coined the term zemblanity in the late twentieth century to mean somewhat the opposite of serendipity: "making unhappy, unlucky and expected discoveries occurring by design". The derivation is speculative, but believed to be from Nova Zembla, a barren archipelago once the site of Russian nuclear testing.[29][30]

Bahramdipity is derived directly from Bahram Gur as characterized in The Three Princes of Serendip. It describes the suppression of serendipitous discoveries or research results by powerful individuals.[31]

In addition, Solomon & Bronstein (2018) further distinguish between perceptual and realised pseudo-serendipity and nemorinity.[32]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Serendipity". OxfordDictionaries.com. Oxford dictionary. Archived from the original on July 11, 2017. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  2. ^ R. Campa: Making Science by Serendipity. A review of Robert K. Merton and Elinor Barber’s The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity Journal of Evolution and Technology - Vol. 17 Issue 1 – March 2008- pgs 75-83
  3. ^ Robert K. Merton: Social Theory and Social Structure. The Free Press, Glencoe IL 1957, S. 12.
  4. ^ Merton, R. K. and Barber, E. (2004). The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity: A Study in Sociological Semantics and the Sociology of Science. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
  5. ^ Busch, Christian (2024-05-01). "Towards a Theory of Serendipity: A Systematic Review and Conceptualization". Journal of Management Studies. 61 (3): 1110–1151. doi:10.1111/joms.12890. ISSN 0022-2380.
  6. ^ a b Christian Busch: The Serendipity Mindset: The Art and Science of Creating Good Luck on nextbigideaclub.com. Book: New York: Penguin Random House 2020.
  7. ^ de Rond, M. (2014). ‘The structure of serendipity’. Culture and Organization, 20, 342–58
  8. ^ Copeland, S. (2018). ‘“Fleming leapt on the unusual like a weasel on a vole”: challenging the paradigms of discovery in science’. Perspectives on Science, 26, 694–721.
  9. ^ Vuong, Quan-Hoang (2022). A New Theory of Serendipity: Nature, Emergence and Mechanism. Walter de Gruyter GmbH. ISBN 9788366675582.
  10. ^ Dew, N. (2009). ‘Serendipity in entrepreneurship’. Organization Studies, 30, 735–53.
  11. ^ Race, T. M. and Makri, S. (2016). Accidental Information Discovery. Cultivating Serendipity in the Digital Age. London: Elsevier.
  12. ^ Silvia Davoli (2 July 2018). "The creation of the word 'serendipity'". Strawberry Hill House & Garden. Archived from the original on 2018-07-06. Strawberry Hill Treasure Hunt.
  13. ^ Remer, Theodore G., ed. (1965). Serendipity and the Three Princes, from the Peregrinaggio of 1557. Edited, with an Introduction and Notes, by Theodore G. Remer. Preface by W. S. Lewis. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 6. LCCN 65-10112
  14. ^ Barber, Robert K. Merton, Elinor (2006). The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity: A Study in Sociological Semantics and the Sociology of Science (Paperback ed.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. pp. 1–3. ISBN 978-0691126302.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ "serendipity". Archived from the original on 2018-10-13. Retrieved 2017-06-10 – via The Free Dictionary.
  16. ^ For example: Portuguese serendipidade or serendipismo; Spanish serendipia; German Serendipität; French sérendipité or also heureux hasard (fortunate chance); Italian serendipità (Italian Dictionary Hoepli by Aldo Gabrielli, cfr. Archived 2020-12-05 at the Wayback Machine); Dutch serendipiteit; Swedish, Danish and Norwegian serendipitet; Romanian serendipitate; Finnish serendipisyys or serendipiteetti; Russian sieriendipnost (Серендипность); Japanese serendipiti (セレンディピティ); Chinese yìwài fāxiàn (意外发现 that is "unexpected discovery").
    Others use directly the term serendipity, like Polish.
  17. ^ Collins Chinese Dictionary. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. 2005. pp. 90, 391. ISBN 0-00-720432-9.
  18. ^ a b c d "The Power Of Serendipity". CBS News. 5 October 2007. Archived from the original on 2019-08-11. Retrieved 2019-02-17.
  19. ^ "The story of serendipity". Understanding Science. University of California Museum of Paleontology. Archived from the original on 2018-11-08. Retrieved 2019-02-18.
  20. ^ "This Month in Physics History: February 9, 1990: Death of George de Mestral". American Physical Society. February 2004. Archived from the original on 2019-02-19. Retrieved 2019-02-18.
  21. ^ Thomas, J. Thorson (2017). Serendipity: Seemingly Random Events, Insignificant Decisions, and Accidental Discoveries that Altered History. Windy City Publishers. ISBN 9781941478592.
  22. ^ US 2230654, Plunkett, Roy J, "Tetrafluoroethylene polymers", issued 4 February 1941 
  23. ^ "Alexander Fleming: Fleming's serendipitous discovery of penicillin changed the course of medicine and earned him a Nobel Prize". Science History Institute. December 5, 2017. Archived from the original on 2020-11-10. Retrieved 2020-04-28.
  24. ^ Hofmann, Albert (2009). LSD, my problem child: reflections on sacred drugs, mysticism, and science (Fourth English Language ed.). Santa Cruz, CA. ISBN 978-0-9798622-2-9. OCLC 610059315.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  25. ^ Starr, Karla (September 12, 2012). "How to Not Find What You're Looking For". Scientific American Blog Network. Archived from the original on 2019-02-18. Retrieved 2019-02-18.
  26. ^ Pazzanese, Christina (March 24, 2017). "Danger in the internet echo chamber". Harvard Law Today. Archived from the original on 2021-04-16. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
  27. ^ Race, Tammera M.; Makri, Stephann (2016-06-13). Accidental Information Discovery: Cultivating Serendipity in the Digital Age. Elsevier. ISBN 9781780634319. Archived from the original on 2023-07-15. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  28. ^ Reviglio, Urbano (2019-01-02). "Serendipity as an emerging design principle of the infosphere: challenges and opportunities". Ethics and Information Technology. 21 (2): 151–166. doi:10.1007/s10676-018-9496-y. ISSN 1572-8439. S2CID 57426650.
  29. ^ Boyd, William. Armadillo, Chapter 12, Knopf, New York, 1998. ISBN 0-375-40223-3
  30. ^ Boyle, Richard (2009-03-12). "Serendipity and Zemblanity". Himal Southasian. Archived from the original on 2020-12-29. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  31. ^ (a) Sommer, Toby J. "'Bahramdipity' and Scientific Research", The Scientist, 1999, 13(3), 13. Archived 2001-11-02 at the Wayback Machine
    (b) Sommer, Toby J. "Bahramdipity and Nulltiple Scientific Discoveries," Science and Engineering Ethics, 2001, 7(1), 77–104. Archived 2018-11-26 at the Wayback Machine
  32. ^ Solomon, Yosef, & Bronstein, Jenny. "Information Serendipity, Pseudo-Serendipity, Zemblanity, Disruptive Discovery and Nemorinity: Revisiting Donizetti's and Romani's Opera Buffa L'elisir d'Amore" Archived 2023-07-15 at the Wayback Machine, iConference Proceedings, 2018, 1–4

Further reading

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Wikiquote has quotations related to Serendipity (effect).
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Serendipity.
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