[In the case of research director, Willis R. Whitney, whose style was to give talented investigators as much freedom as possible, you may define "serendipity" as] the art of profiting from unexpected occurrences. When you do things in that way you get unexpected results. Then you do something else and you get unexpected results in another line, and you do that on a third line and then all of a sudden you see that one of these lines has something to do with the other. Then you make a discovery that you never could have made by going on a direct road.
Only a small part of scientific progress has resulted from planned search for specific objectives. A much more important part has been made possible… - Irving Langmuir
Only a small part of scientific progress has resulted from planned search for specific objectives. A much more important part has been made possible…
- Irving Langmuir
Happy indeed is the scientist who not only has the pleasures which I have enumerated, but who also wins the recognition of fellow scientists and of t… - Irving Langmuir
Happy indeed is the scientist who not only has the pleasures which I have enumerated, but who also wins the recognition of fellow scientists and of t…
[There] are cases where there is no dishonesty involved but where people are tricked into false results by a lack of understanding about what human b… - Irving Langmuir
[There] are cases where there is no dishonesty involved but where people are tricked into false results by a lack of understanding about what human b…
Train yourselves. Don't wait to be fed knowledge out of a book. Get out and seek it. Make explorations. Do your own research work. Train your hands a… - Irving Langmuir
Train yourselves. Don't wait to be fed knowledge out of a book. Get out and seek it. Make explorations. Do your own research work. Train your hands a…
A chemist who does not know mathematics is seriously handicapped. - Irving Langmuir
A chemist who does not know mathematics is seriously handicapped.
The scientist is motivated primarily by curiosity and a desire for truth. - Irving Langmuir
The scientist is motivated primarily by curiosity and a desire for truth.
History proves abundantly that pure science, undertaken without regard to applications to human needs, is usually ultimately of direct benefit to man… - Irving Langmuir
History proves abundantly that pure science, undertaken without regard to applications to human needs, is usually ultimately of direct benefit to man…
To my mind, the most important aspect of the Nobel Awards is that they bring home to the masses of the peoples of all nations, a realization of their… - Irving Langmuir
To my mind, the most important aspect of the Nobel Awards is that they bring home to the masses of the peoples of all nations, a realization of their…
And literature frequently rises to heights that make it international. - Irving Langmuir
And literature frequently rises to heights that make it international.
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