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Designing for (un)serendipity - computing and chance

Designing for (un)serendipity - computing and chance
Designing for (un)serendipity - computing and chance
The tale of a lame, one-eyed, toothless camel may not, at first glance, seem an auspicious start for ground-breaking discoveries of penicillin, X-rays and chocolate chip cookies. However, when Horace Walpole coined the word serendipity in 1754, based on the tale of ‘The Three Princes of Serendip’ and the aforementioned camel, he was giving name to the accidental sagacity (i.e. accidental wisdom) involved in many scientific discoveries and inventions, where there is “no discovery of a thing you are looking for”.
computer system, creativity, information theory, insight, pasteur, support domain expertise
0954-982X
19-22
André, Paul
be9fe144-3cf4-4aaf-9ddd-c37776b00831
schraefel, m.c.
ac304659-1692-47f6-b892-15113b8c929f
André, Paul
be9fe144-3cf4-4aaf-9ddd-c37776b00831
schraefel, m.c.
ac304659-1692-47f6-b892-15113b8c929f

André, Paul and schraefel, m.c. (2009) Designing for (un)serendipity - computing and chance. [in special issue: Serendipity in Science] The Biochemist, 31 (6), 19-22.

Record type: Article

Abstract

The tale of a lame, one-eyed, toothless camel may not, at first glance, seem an auspicious start for ground-breaking discoveries of penicillin, X-rays and chocolate chip cookies. However, when Horace Walpole coined the word serendipity in 1754, based on the tale of ‘The Three Princes of Serendip’ and the aforementioned camel, he was giving name to the accidental sagacity (i.e. accidental wisdom) involved in many scientific discoveries and inventions, where there is “no discovery of a thing you are looking for”.

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More information

Published date: 1 December 2009
Keywords: computer system, creativity, information theory, insight, pasteur, support domain expertise
Organisations: Agents, Interactions & Complexity

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 268313
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/268313
ISSN: 0954-982X
PURE UUID: ed9b2aff-1f65-472f-bd93-a025736e7675
ORCID for m.c. schraefel: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-9061-7957

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 13 Dec 2009 16:57
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:16

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Contributors

Author: Paul André
Author: m.c. schraefel ORCID iD

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