Serendipity in Physics Research
This paper relates several serendipitous discoveries in physics in the 19th and 20th centuries. They are all experimental in nature and the places range from reputable universities to modern research laboratories. The discoverers could be working in solo or in group. The subject discovered ranges from the finest nucleus to the limitless cosmos. ********** Bob Berman in his book Strange Universe related a classic case of serendipity in science which culminated in the award of Nobel Prize to the discoverers. Page 164 of the book says that in 1965 Robert Wilson and Arno Penzias while using a Bell Laboratories radio telescope to survey the sky's radio background in preparation for planned communications satellites, found omnipresent noise they could not explain. At first they assumed it was caused by heat from droppings left behind by the many pigeons roosting in the metallic horn-shaped antenna, but repeated cleanings didn't clear out the static. The noise was the signal of cosmic background radiation, residue of the birth of the universe through the Big Bang. The author opined that who would have imagined that the birth of the universe would have been discovered in New Jersey? Ivan Kaminow, a colleague of Wilson and Penzias later remarked to a reporter, "They looked for dung and found gold, which is just the opposite of the experience of most of us." Serendipity or fortuitous finds in research is rather common. Someone likened it to looking for the rake in a stack of hay and instead finding the farmer's daughter in there. Other Cases of Serendipity In 1927, Clinton Davisson and Lester Germer again from the Bell Telephone Laboratories, were studying the surface of a piece of nickel by directing a beam of electrons at it and observing how many electrons bounced off at various angles [2]. During the experiment, an accident occurred that permitted air to enter the vacuum chamber resulting in the oxidation of the metal surface. In order to remove the oxidized film, Davisson and Germer heated up the specimen in a high-temperature oven, almost hot enough to melt it. They were oblivious of the fact that the heating had the effect of annealing the specimen making it a large piece of single crystal. The crystal planes thus formed make diffraction of electron beam possible. Thus by an accident in the laboratory, the duo had discovered electron diffraction and they were awarded the coveted Nobel later on. The discovery of X-rays or Rontgent rays in 1895 was also considered as serendipitous in nature. The discoverer Wilhelm Rontgent was awarded the first Nobel Prize in physics in 1901. He didn't know much of the nature of the rays, hence he conveniently dubbed it 'X-rays'. But in Germany it is still called Rontgent rays in honour of the discoverer. …