Serendipity
The term serendipity (English serendipity ), and occasionally Serendipity principle or Serendipitätsprinzip refers to a casual observation of something not originally sought, which proves to be a new and surprising discovery.
Related, but not identical, is the broader term happy coincidence; Serendipity emphasizes a further investigation, an intelligent conclusion or resourcefulness.
Origin
For the first time, the British author Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford ( 1717-1797 ), used the expression in a letter of 28 January 1754 his living in Florence friend Horace Mann. He explained the fact that he had influenced him in reference to a Persian fairy tale with the English title The Three Princes of Serendip, in which the three princes make many of these unexpected discoveries. Serendip is an old, dominated by Arab traders name for Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, and has its roots in ancient Sanskrit name of the island Simhaladvipa. The worldwide distribution, especially given the term in scientific circles, but goes back to the American sociologist Robert K. Merton ( 1910-2003 ). He is first found in 1945 in his book The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity.
Probably comes the story of the Three Princes of Serendip from the Indo- Persian poet Amir Khusrau. In 1557 she was also told by the Italian poet Christoforo Armeno.
Well-known and important examples
Known examples of serendipity, the discovery of America in 1492, the discoveries of X-rays, penicillin and Viagra, the superglue or the cosmic background radiation. Also almost over random events are described, the diligent researchers lead to discoveries, to the benzene ring, which finally occurred in a dream. Other examples are the Velcro, Post-it, Teflon, linoleum, the silicone, the "invention" of the tea bag, the nylon stockings, or the discovery of LSD. In this connection often drops the phrase " Chance favors only the prepared mind "; should read: The discovery comes when someone has worked a lot on it, but often informal, it then falls to him.
The dinosaur Serendipaceratops was named after this principle, since its first describer discovered only by chance the true kinship.
Serendipity in information science
In the field of information retrieval Serendipitätseffekte can play a role, such as when you're surfing the Internet unintentionally useful information are detected. But in researching in professional databases and comparable information systems may occur Serendipitätseffekten. Here is the serendipity to find a characteristic value of the ability of an information system, even in the actual ballast useful information.
The value of the formula below shows how far an information system is able to find useful information in the ballast of a search.
: serendipity
: Number of useful documents in ballast - albeit for another keyword!
: Number of non-relevant documents for the search argument (see Recall and Precision)
The Serendipitätseffekt is not limited to hypertexts, but also occurs while rummaging in the open-shelf library, or the offer of a well-stocked bookstore. For this purpose, the term browsing has already been used long before the advent of the Internet.