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Chapter 18 - Serendipity

What Role Does Serendipity, or Even Pure Luck, Play in Changing the Trajectory?

from Section 3 - Bending the Arc

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2023

Mark P. Khurana
Mark P. Khurana
Affiliation:
University of Copenhagen
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Summary

Understanding serendipity from a trajectory perspective is crucial because serendipitous findings bend the arc of progress, leading us down unexpected paths - in the process changing the direction and rate of research pursuits. Many imagine the classic "Eureka!" moments being a demonstration of such serendipity in real life, although this might be overly simplistic. There are many processes that occur before and after making an unexpected observation that, in hindsight, set the stage for these observations to become discoveries of use. Chapter 18 explores how the serendipitous discoveries of Helicobacter pylori and many modern psychotherapeutic drugs came to be, and discusses how we can more systematically cultivate conditions that allow serendipitous findings to occur.

Keywords

serendipityhelicobacter pyloriluckunexpected discoverypsychotherapeutic drugsgenerative doubt
Type
Chapter
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The Trajectory of Discovery
What Determines the Rate and Direction of Medical Progress?
 , pp. 100 - 103
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • Serendipity
  • Mark P. Khurana, University of Copenhagen
  • Book: The Trajectory of Discovery
  • Online publication: 06 April 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009354424.019
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  • Serendipity
  • Mark P. Khurana, University of Copenhagen
  • Book: The Trajectory of Discovery
  • Online publication: 06 April 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009354424.019
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Serendipity
  • Mark P. Khurana, University of Copenhagen
  • Book: The Trajectory of Discovery
  • Online publication: 06 April 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009354424.019
Available formats
×