Parallax by Alan W. Hirshfeld

Author:Alan W. Hirshfeld
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Published: 2011-05-16T16:00:00+00:00

The three princes of Serendip, from the ancient Persian fairy tale, “were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of.” So wrote English author Horace Walpole to his friend, diplomat Sir Horace Mann, in 1754. Walpole named this powerful confluence of happenstance and receptive mind serendipity. Serendipity has long been associated with scientific advancement, from the ancient flash of insight by Archimedes—Eureka!—to Isaac Newton’s falling apple to the modern-era discoveries of Velcro and the microwave oven. Serendipity also makes for a good story.

James Bradley was eminently prepared for the serendipity that blessed him, having puzzled over his wobbly stars for almost three years and still lacking an explanation. In the early autumn of 1728, the answer struck him like a bolt out of the blue. Frustrated astronomer, pleasure cruise on the Thames, gentle breeze. An unlikely formula for solving a cosmic mystery. But that’s what makes serendipity so fascinating—its essential improbability. Thomas Thomson tells the tale of Bradley’s encounter with serendipity in his 1812 History of the Royal Society:

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