Abstract

COPPO, J.A.. Serendipia. Rev. vet. [online]. 2012, vol.23, n.1, pp.71-76. ISSN 1669-6840.

The way that scientists formulate hypothesis or conceive theories is analyzed, confirming that both take place for reasons different to logic and epistemology. "Serendipity" is defined as a valuable discovery as consequence of a fortuitous event. A hermeneutic research made possible to describe cases of serendipity inherent to discoveries performed by Archimedes, Newton, Auembrugger, Jenner, Laennec, Darwin, Wells, Bernard, Kekule, Vucetich, Pasteur, Bottazzi, Roentgen, Becquerel and Fleming. It is concluded that intervention of fate does not minimize the magnitude of new discoveries as it favors only to scientifically prepared minds

Keywords : Serendipity; discovery; epistemology; history of science.

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