SERENDIPITY, THE SECRET OF SUCCESS
I n this m anual two po int s have been em p ha sized : Che m ist r y is fun, but you must
think in order 1O en joy it. T hese two points ar c o f p r im ary im po r ta nce to a beg in ner in
ch emistry. Hut there is a thi r d poi n t wh ich shou ld also be ment ioned , on e wh ich will becom e im po rtant to yo u when yo u becom e a trai ned che m ist a few years from now . This
poi ur ca n be ex pressed by the word " serendipi ty: ' Loo sel y defin ed , sere nd ipity means t he
a bi lity to profit from th e u nexpecte d .
Al though it m ay not have seem ed 50 at the t ime. t he pro blem s u sed in this manual wer e
sim ple. T hat is, the answers which the p ro ficient stud ent ob tained were the answers wh ich
were ex pec ted . If the proficient student mad e no m ista kes, the ans wer he o bta ined co uld
have been predi cted in adva nce b y any ot he r profi cient st ude n t. H o wever , the pr oblems
that will co n fro nt the trai ned chemist arc not always th is simple ; o ften the r esul ts cannot
be p red icted in ad va nce. Even though the che m ist may make no m ista kes as he works on a
prob lem , it is not always possib le to for esee the re sul t he wi ll o bta in .
\ Vh y is t h is so? I n or der to reach t he su bject of chem ist ry to th e be gin ner it is necessar y
care fu lly to select p roblems wit h know n answers . O therwise, it wo u ld be d ifficult, if not
im possible, to help the begi n ner learn th e m ateria l he m ust learn in order to becom e a
trai ned che m ist. H o wever , there are m any m an y th ings wh ich arc not yet known a bout
che m ist ry an d th ese arc the yery things wh ich the tra ined chemist st ud ies, Since th e tra ined
chem ist works in an u n known re gio n , it is to be expected th at ma ny of h is problems will
h ave u nexpecte d answers,
H owever, in or der to begin wo r k o n an y problem, whethe r it has an answer wh ich is
know n or u n known , it is necessar y tha t t he chem ist have so me well -tho ught-out id eas co ncern ing th e p roblem . It is certain that no o ne ever solved a di fficult problem b y tackl in g
it ra sh ly. Bu t m an y m an y workers have missed golden opport un ities b y cli ngi ng to the ir p re ·
li m in ar y ideas too ten acio usly. Cavendi sh anal yzed the consti t ucm s of th e at m os phe re and
fo un d th at h is percen tages d id not qui te add lip to 100 pe r ce nt . H e att r ibu ted thi s d is,
cre pancy to h is prelim in ary n ot ions that the atmosph ere co u ld be com posed on ly o f n itrogell. ox ygen , wa te r \'a po r, and carbo n d iox ide, and 10 the su p posed fact th at h is an alyses
were sligh tly in error. H e m issed d iscoveri ng th e inert gases which we kn o w, today, to be
also pre sen t. O n t he o ther ha nd , as Mendc lccv de vised hi s period ic ta b le , h e not iced tha t it
was ne cessar y to a ba ndon h is o riginal ide a that the elemen ts sh ou ld be arranged cousccut ivclv in ad jacent positions in the order of t heir increasing atom ic we igh ts, \\'e ho nor h im
a ~ t he di scoverer of th e periodic table , o ne of the most sig n ifican t achievemen ts of th e h u m an
int el lect . Mendelccv in deed began with a preconce ived notio n of thc answer he expect ed ,
but when h e re cogni zed that h is expect ed answer was mistak en . he seized u po n the u nexpected re su lt tha t he d id find and estab li sh ed a new princi pl e. Bccquercl o bserved that in
on e of hi s ex periments a photo gra ph ic p lat e was unexpect edl y fogged . H e had begu n wit h
an elaborate, logica l p lan to stu d y th e phenom eno n of lut u iucwc ucc but his res ults did not
fit the plan at all. Others had stu d ied the sam e phenomenon (the ir n am es arc u nk nown
toda y) an d h ad ob-cr vcd sim ilar un expe cted result s which they di sm issed as u n important
beca use the se resu lt s d id no t co n form to what they had ex pected. Bccq uc rcl d ropped h is
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preconcei ved id eas an d pu rsued the cau se of th e u n ex pected resu lt. H e discovered the
phenome non of rad ioact ivi ty.
T he li st is end less. Irvin g Langm u ir, on e of t he outstanding scientists of this cemury,
att r ib uted m ost of h is d iscoveries LO sere nd ip ity. The l igh t b y wh ich you read , the au tomobi le in wh ich you r id e (to men t ion two a pplications of h is work) wo ul d no t be as we have
th em to da y if Langmu ir had not rea lized that som e unexpected results which he ob ta ined
d uring h is research work in d icated t hat h is previo u s ideas about certain p henom ena were
wro ng. O th ers had not iced th e sam e pe cu liarities in their work b u t had d ism issed th cm as
un im portan t. T h cy fa iled to see t he implicat io ns of the unexpected.
Each of these wo rkers, Caven di sh , Xlcudclecv, Becq uercl , Langm uir, an d all t he others,
wh ethe r th ey p racticed serend ip ity or not, all bega n with a p lan ned expe r imen t, wi th a
p re co nceive d notion of wha t to expcct for a n a nswer. And, J uring th e course of th eir wo r k,
they n oticed a sm all or large d iscr epancy b etween wha t di d happen and what wa s expect ed.
Sonic att r ib u ted th e unexpected r esu lt to a m ista ke in the la boratory wor k and d ism issed the
mat ter as u n import an t. Ot hers, suc h as Bccqucrc l, Xl cndc lccv , an d Langm u ir, a ttributed
the u nexpected resu lt to a m istake in their original ideas, altered the se ideas, a nd di scovered
a new con cep t.
Now all carefu l workers who come across a n un expe cted r esu lt will first ch eck the ir
laboratory work be cause the y know from bitte r experience how ea sy it is to mak e a mista ke
in th e la borato r y. And u su all y the unexpected resu lt is in fact due to an error in la bor ator y
tech n iq ue. U pon ca refu l repetit ion of th e la borator y p roced ure, the u nex pected result
d ocs no t occu r agai n and th e pre co nceived ide as are ther efore d et erm ined to be consiste nt.
But occasiona ll y t he u nexpect ed result r eoccurs, an d the worker th en h as a choice o f di sm issing t he unexpected resu lt as an uni mport an t happenstance or of accept ing it as real an d
pu rsu in g it fu rth er.
T he ch oic e selected, to p ursu e or to d ism iss, probab ly d e pends largel y u pon t he m ental
alti tu de o f the scie n t ist toward hi s wo r k. Certain ly those who reall y enjoy their work are
more l ikel y to see the un expect ed re su lt as a ch all en ge 10 be overcome : whe reas the wor ker
who v iews h is ta sk o nly as a daily occupa ti on to be performed in a rou tin e ma n ne r is less
li kel y to be stim u la ted by an u n ex pected resul t. H e will be in cl ined to d ismiss the u nex pected as unim portant eve n though re peated experimen ts, if in deed h e h as bothered
to carry out a re petition , show t hat the u nex pect ed resu lt is real.
T he concl usi on is o bviou s. T o p ractice sere n d ip ity, it is de sira ble th at you find your
work in chemistry en joya b le, and it has been th e aim of th is la borato r y man ua l to foster
th is atti tude.
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