02869nam a22002897a 4500001000400000003000500004005001700009008004100026020004000067040003400107082002100141100002900162245010300191264005400294300002400348336002100372337002500393338002300418504005100441520191200492650002702404650002702431650002202458650003202480650002702512700004002539910MBIP20250414150929.0250225b        |||||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d  a9780262049153cRM 129.35qHardcover  aMBIPbengcMBIPdNFdIZFerda04223a576.509bTEL1 aPievani, Telmo,eauthor.14aSerendipity :bTHE UNEXPECTED IN SCIENCE / cTelmo Pievani ;  translated by Michael Gerard Kenyon.  aCambridge, Massachysetts :bThe MIT Press,c2024.  a215 pages ;c21 cm.  2rdacontentatext  2rdamediaaunmediated  2rdacarrieravolume  aIncludes bibliographical references and index.  aFrom the bestselling author of Imperfection, a theory of uncertainty as the very core of the scientific method—and the essence of its wonder.


How many times have we looked for something and found something else? A partner, a job, an object? The same thing happens often to scientists: they design an experiment and discover the unexpected, which usually turns out to be very important. This fascinating phenomenon is called serendipity, which takes its name from the mythical Serendib, a place from which, according to a Persian fable, three princes set off to explore the world, making chance discoveries along the way. In Serendipity, the award-winning author of Imperfection Telmo Pievani returns to weave a compelling story about the unexpected in science and its fascinating role in our understanding of the world.

Going far beyond the usual examples of penicillin, X-rays, the microwave oven, and Christopher Columbus, Pievani shows that the most surprising stories of serendipity in the history of science reveal profound aspects of the logic of scientific discovery. In this book, he presents for the first time: an archaeology of the idea; a taxonomy of serendipitous discoveries; an “ecology of serendipity” (the surrounding conditions and factors that can promote it); and lastly, a theory of serendipity (why it occurs so frequently in so many sciences). From Zadig to Sherlock Holmes, Pievani shows that such great discoveries are not just the product of luck. Instead, serendipity comes from a mix of cunning, curiosity, sagacity, imagination, and accidents caught on the fly. Serendipity illuminates how much we don’t know and how much we don't even know we don't know. Above all, Pievani reminds us that the human brain is of a piece with the world it is investigating—a world so much bigger than our knowledge—and it has also evolved within that world, adapting as it has to.10aSerendipity in science20aDiscoveries in science20aSciencevResearch20aPhilosophy & Social Aspects20aResearch & Methodology1 aMichael Gerard Kenyon,dtranslator.