SCIENTIFIC DEVELOPMENTS

Scientific developments in the computer hardware and software industry



Scientific developments in the computer hardware and software industry

In the scientific world of controlled experiments, chance is seldom acknowledged as a contributing factor in important discoveries. There are, however, rare exceptions. In 1945 three men shared the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for the discovery and isolation of penicillin, an antibiotic medicine with great therapeutic potential. Those three men were Alexander Fleming, Ernst Chain and Howard Florey. Yet, despite the work of these three, and related research by other scientists, most textbooks credit a chance observation, made in 1928 by Fleming alone, for the discovery of penicillin. How rare was this serendipitous event and was the discovery of penicillin really the result of an unexpected chance observation by a single researcher? (Goh, 2001: 138)

The scientific method is typically noted for its orderliness and control; In fact, we are taught that without these characteristics, experimental research may yield invalid results. Therefore, chance should play little or no role in the process of the scientific method. But what is chance? When is chance truly an accident and when is it foreseeable? Historically, some chance discoveries have led to startling new ideas that eventually directed important further scientific investigation of natural phenomena. (Harman, 2004: 208)

Let's return to a discussion of the discovery and isolation of penicillin - a process which involved a series of chance events spanning at least half a century and building on knowledge gained as early as 1500 BC. It was at this time that written records describe the use of molds and fermented materials as therapeutic agents. Similarly, the use of chemicals as medicines is described in ancient Greek writings of the fifth century BC. These early treatments - which probably either cured or killed the patients - were carried out without a firm understanding of either the active agents or the cellular processes involved. It was not until the late nineteenth century that progress was made on this front and a concerted effort was made to identify and isolate substances that would inhibit or destroy the causative agents of known human diseases. And still, "chance" played a role.

In 1928, he was researching the properties of the group of bacteria known as staphylococci and became another in the long line of scientists to benefit from a seemingly chance observation. His problem during this research was the frequent contamination ...