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The Power of Accidental Discoveries

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the eureka dept.

schmiddy writes "An article from Wired mentions the surprising number of discoveries that have been made entirely by accident. In an older article, The Discovery Channel's site points out a different subset of inventions that happened by accident. A much older article from PBS goes into more depth on the subject of accidental discoveries, and gives a great quote from physicist Joseph Henry: 'The seeds of great discoveries are constantly floating around us, but they only take root in minds well prepared to receive them.'"

2 of 174 comments (clear)

  1. Words of discovery by bm_luethke · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Years ago I read in a text book that the words spoken at most major discoveries were not "Eureka! I've found it!" but "That's interesting?" or "Oops!".

    This has been well known for years by anyone that has done research. It's dramatic stories that make it otherwise. Really, research is quite boring story wise. If your going to tell about how *something* was created a great drive to find "it" is better than accidental discovery.

    --
    ------- Sorry about the spelling, I suffer from two problems. Dyslexia makes it difficult to spell well, lazy makes it
  2. Stainless Steel by benlwilson · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Stainless Steel should really have been in that list.