Serendipia

Abstract

Se reflexiona acerca del modo que uti­lizan los investigadores científicos para inventar hipótesis o concebir teorías, confirmando que ello ocurre por razones ajenas a la lógica y la epistemología. Se define “serendipia” como el hallazgo de algo valioso por un evento fortuito. Una investigación hermenéutica posibilitó describir casos de serendipia atinentes a los hallazgos de Arquímedes, Newton, Auembru­gger, Jenner, Laennec, Darwin, Wells, Bernard, Kekulé, Vucetich, Pasteur, Bottazzi, Roent­gen, Becquerel y Fleming. Se concluye que la intervención del azar no menoscaba la magni­tud del descubrimiento porque favorece únicamente a las mentes científicamente preparadas.

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.