The luck of science might sound like the worst contradiction since kosher bacon, but we wouldn’t be where we are today without fortunate accidents. It’d be a significantly suckier and more boring world without the fantastically poor lab practices of Sir Alexander Fleming, the clumsiness of Edward Benedictus, or the suicidal carelessness of Alfred Nobel (resulting in penicillin, safety glass and gelignite).
That’s why we have the word “serendipity” instead: it combines the accidental inspiration (or explosion) of luck with a mind capable of comprehending it. Pasteur himself said “In the field of observation chance favors the prepared mind” - as Charles Goodyear discovered when he threw his own invention on a hot stove in an attempt to destroy it. Losing your temper and attempting to set your life’s work on fire isn’t exactly when most people would make discoveries, but he saw that the charred remains were actually better than the original rubber - and exactly the compound he needed to set up a vast business.
The confusion of serendipity with luck is a damaging one - luck is for losing, for lottos, for throwing money instead of effort at a problem with the probability-mocking cry of “someone has to win!” Students seeking serendipity can do so profitably, in ways that will benefit themselves even if they’re never hit by the lightning of a long shot discovery.
1. Do More Stuff
Incredible connections aren’t made by sitting in your chair and waiting for the mysterious Inspiration Particle to strike - and even if they were, you’ll look pretty silly wasting all that time if one doesn’t. The more things you do, the more things you try, the better your chances of stumbling on The One Cool Thing - and the better you’ll be at embracing it. As Samuel Goldwyn said “The harder I work, the luckier I get.”
2. Learn More Things
You’ll never make a breakthrough in an unrelated field if you never actually know any. Year after year deans exhort students to study outside their own field, to avoid the very special strain of “specialist-itis” that afflicts educated minds. Even if you never make an incredible connection between genetics and the ancient counting system of the Egyptians, studying more subjects is more interesting, keeps your brain fresher, and can even help against Alzheimer’s.
3. Don’t Ignore What You Don’t Like
Many serendipitous discoveries aren’t just unexpected, they’re actively opposite to what you want to happen. That’s why they’re breakthroughs - and it’s also why 90% of human endeavours from office work to politics never have them. If you automatically erase or avoid anything that upsets your expectations you’ll never advance, which is why scientists should always look at the unlikely or unwanted and ask “Now why did that happen?” Instead of insisting it didn’t.
Follow this advice, and since it’s basically “Do and read cooler things” that’s hardly a negative task, and you’ll definitely do better. To take a quote from the founder of Buddhism (demonstrating the open mind of being able to acknowledge information regardless of religious source) “Being deeply learned and skilled, being well trained and using well spoken words; this is good luck.”
Luke McKinney
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