A recent example of well-known serendipity, that of the famous little blue pill. This drug, viagra, was initially tested for pulmonary arterial hypertension. Very quickly, the laboratory realizes that the hopes placed in it will not materialize. However, one of its side effects is interesting: it causes erections. The laboratory therefore quickly changes its tune and develops the drug in another indication: the treatment of impotence.
The most commonly cited example of serendipity is the discovery of the first antibiotic, penicillin. His discoverer, Alexander Fleming was said to be a bit careless. He would have gone on vacation, leaving his boxes of bacteria cultures exposed, which would then have been infected. But if he was careless, he was still very intelligent since, on his return, he noticed that on the edges of the molds, there was an area in which the bacteria had not grown. This is how he managed to identify the bacteria-killing fungus.
Chance is not everything.
The researcher’s curiosity and ability to respond to the unexpected are very important. Imagine for a second that Alexander Fleming threw his infected Petri dishes in the trash. We might not have known about antibiotics …
Medical researchers do not have a monopoly on serendipity. Example: velcro. It was while walking his dog that a Swiss engineer imagined this strip of self-gripping fabric. He discovered that it was difficult to remove the flowers of Great Burdock – it is a fruit – when they clung to the hair of his dog. Back home, he examined this plant and the velcro was born …
We must not want to plan everything in research, we must leave spaces of freedom. A revolutionary discovery can arise at any time. In the Netherlands, there is a tradition among researchers: on Friday afternoon, they have the freedom to carry out “personal research” … without being obliged to justify their actions.
Doctor Jean-François Lemoine
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