📓 serendipity

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733317301774

                   
targeted search      solution of given problem       solution of diff problem
                        mertonian                       walpolian
                        
untargeted search    solution of existing problem    solution waiting for problem
                        bushian                          stephanian

|———

• walpolian
  • "targeted search solves unexpected problem"
  • discovery of things which the discoverers were not in search of
  • while searching for X, find completely unrelated Y
  • ex. In 1943, an explosion left soldiers exposed to mustard gas. Investigators were dispatched to find out whether it was an enemy bombing. Instead they found soldiers’ white blood cell counts dropping. The link was made that perhaps mustard gas, or its derivatives, could treat cancers caused by the over-expression of white blood cells – modern chemotherapy was born.
• mertonian
  • "targeted search solves target problem via unexpected route"
  • ex. Daguerre had spent years trying to coax photographic images out of iodized silver plates. After yet another futile attempt, he stored the plates in a chemicals cabinet overnight to find the fumes from a spilled jar of mercury accidentally produced a perfect image on the plate
• bushian
  • "untargeted search solves an immediate problem"
  • ex. In 1879, as part of a research program into the general properties of sugar, Fahlberg discovered saccharine, an artificial sweetener, after noticing a sweet taste on his hands
• stephanian
  • "untargeted search solves a later problem"
  • un-targeted research comes upon a new unsought-for problem and unsought-for solution
  • ex. In 1903, Benedictus dropped a flask. The flask shattered but he noticed to his surprise that the fragments of glass did not fly apart, the flask remained almost in its original shape. He found that it had a film on the inside to which the broken pieces of glass had adhered. He realised that this film had come from the evaporation of a solution of collodion (cellulose nitrate, prepared from cotton and nitric acid) which the flask had contained. After the incident, Benedictus learned of automobile accidents, with serious consequences from flying glass.

• could re-make this in context of entrepreneurship, ie. "serendipity in entrepreneurship"
  • "entrepreneurship as search for opportunity"
  • stumble upon a large market problem