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Can we engineer ourselves to be lucky scientists?

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https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06777-4

EXCERPT: . . . Nevertheless, after spending more time in science, I am increasingly realizing that accomplishments are influenced by all sorts of circumstances, and for most we can claim no credit. This is where luck comes in. In schools and the mainstream media, for example, major scientific breakthroughs are often popularized as lucky accidents, with crucial advances in medicine or physics caused by fungal contamination or an apple falling on a head.

Google ‘luck in science’ and you might be surprised to find a number of articles describing the importance of luck in building a successful scientific career.

The question is, can we engineer it? Author Coleman Cox once said, “I am a great believer in luck; I find the harder I work, the more of it I have.” Although we would all like to be blessed with regular good fortune [...] most of us are simply not that lucky. But, with good career planning and a proactive attitude, we can prepare ourselves to make the best use of a lucky break.

During my postdoctoral training, I found that an experimental procedure I had spent months developing did not lead to any significant results. I moved on to another project, but the experiment was still in the back of my mind when, three weeks later, online, I came across a researcher working on a problem similar to mine back home in Singapore. After reading some of her papers, I rejigged my experiment. This time, it was a success.

One could argue that it was lucky to have found the papers in the first place. More importantly, despite my lack of results, I did not disregard my experiment. If I had just forgotten it and moved on, I wouldn’t have ended up with a novel piece of data, with the potential to have a modest impact in my field. [...] Make sure you have exhausted all possible options before giving up on an experiment. If you really believe in the idea, keep an eye on the literature to stay abreast of new developments that might help you get lucky in the future....

MORE: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06777-4
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