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What Every Engineer Should Know about Inventing
book

What Every Engineer Should Know about Inventing

by William H. Middendorf
July 2023
Beginner
168 pages
4h 21m
English
CRC Press
Content preview from What Every Engineer Should Know about Inventing

9 Serendipity: Invention by Accident

The word serendipity was coined by Horace Wolpole in 1754 to denote the gift of finding valuable or agreeable things which are not being sought. Many inventions have been the result of accidents or observations by the inventor which were quite unexpected.

According to Kivenson [37], there appears to be two ways in which invention by accident occurs. One is the situation whereby the inventor is actively engaged in problem solving but cannot find the key to get past a certain point in his progress. Fortunately, an accident or chance observation provides the solution or answer he is hunting for.

A second way in which invention by accident occurs is when the inventor discovers a new phenomenon or insight applicable ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781000939217