Thoughts on serendipity.

Serendipity is a word we sometimes see used, but do we really know what it means? Some define it as an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident, while others define it as just luck. Horace Walpole first coined the word to describe the protagonists of a fairy tale who, through observation, made discoveries that were completely unrelated to their end goal. If we think of Serendipity as the action of making useful discoveries unrelated to one's goal through the use of observation and deduction, we can see that some issues arise with the concept.

For example, if someone serendipitously makes a discovery, should they get credit for it, seeing as it was through a sort of luck? Some people think they shouldn't but in my opinion, based on the definition, they should. Serendipity is not just a stroke of dumb luck. It requires acute observation and deduction skills.

Recently, scientists in Italy, while using a machine that detects neutrinos fired from another facility in France, observed that some neutrinos were making the trip faster than light would (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/23/science/23speed.html ). Their original purpose was not to see if neutrinos could travel faster than light, but because they were attentive and knew what they were doing, they were able to observe this strange phenomenon. In fact, if this were true (the validity of their claim is another thing), it would be the most significant thing to happen in the field of physics in a long time.

Now, do these scientists deserve recognition for this discovery? I would think so, as they did not just happen to see some neutrinos going faster than light, they were conducting advanced experiments, which although were not aimed at that purpose, were nonetheless likely to make some sort of discovery. They obviously knew what they were doing, so they deserve credit in my opinion. If someone were to stumble upon a discovery blindly, then that would not even be serendipity, as there was no observation or deduction. Serendipity implies previous knowledge about what your discovery is, and that is in my opinion enough to justify receiving credit for any discovery made through its “use”.