So prevalent have been chance discoveries in scientific breakthroughs, that there is even a term for it - Serendipity. It was coined by Horace Walpole in 1754, after reading an ancient oriental tale about the Three Princes of Serendip. These three adventurous princes had the knack of making accidental discoveries of things they were not in quest of. Walpole, alluding to this story, defined Serendipity as "the gift of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for."
This gift of lucky breaks was apparent in many of the stories. Interested reader may gain more insight by reading the following stories.
Principle Of Immunisation
But can one conclude that creative discoveries are accidental by nature?
Not really. In all these cases, the mishap could have been dismissed as inconsequential, as was done by many scientists in the cases of X-Rays and the radio "noises" which proved the Big Bang theory. Similarly, Fermi failed to see the significance of his accidental discovery, because he refused to believe what he saw. The accidents became a source of discovery and innovation, because these people were willing to look at them as meaningful occurrences. Newton, after all, was not the first person who saw an apple falling off the tree. As Pasteur remarked: "Chance favours the prepared mind."
2. The Aha! Experience
Much of the grandeur and mystique of the creative act lies in those moments of truths, when all the jigsaw pieces suddenly fit into place. The solution breaks into consciousness, almost as if out of nowhere. The "Aha! experience" is almost an integral part of the creative process, as the following examples show:
19. The Tao Of Physics
22. The Theory Of Evolution
25. Wagner's Rheingold
32. Boolean Algebra
33. Principle Of Photosynthesis
36. Discovery Of The Fuschian Functions
42. Invention Of AC Motor
46. The Excitement Of Creativity
50. Mathematical Theory Of Games Of Chance
66. The Genius Of Karl Fredrich Gauss
76. The Anatomy Of Inspiration
What is important to note is that the excitement is not merely cerebral in nature. It is an experience which involves the totality of the person's being - the emotions, the viscera, and the intellect. Probably, that is what makes the creative insight such an overpowering, exhilarating and intense experience.
3.The Role of Unconscious
The fact of insight and inspiration, noted above, also implies the existence of problem-solving capacities beyond conscious mind. Even when the person 'forgets' the problem, the unconscious keeps on working on it. The solution comes in a flash of insight or is communicated through dreams. The following stories share this commonality of highlighting the role of the unconscious in creative breakthroughs:
8. Invention Of Sewing Machine
10. How The Nerve Impulses Get Transmitted
17. The Periodic Table
19. The Tao Of Physics
22. The Theory Of Evolution
23. Discovery Of The Benzene Ring
25. Wagner's Rheingold
32. Boolean Algebra
36. Discovery Of The Fuschian Functions
40. The "Brownies" Of Stevenson
42. Invention Of Ac Motor
44. Toynbee's The Study Of History
46. The Excitement Of Creativity
50. Mathematical Theory Of Games Of Chance
51. Coleridge's Kubla Khan
54. The Compulsion To Create
61. Creative Reveries Of Enid Blyton
65. Journey Into Unknown
66. The Genius Of Karl Fredrich Gauss
67. Jean Coceteau's The Knights Of The Round Table
71. The Masterpiece Of Sir Walter Scott
75. The Poem Of Stephen Spender
76. The Anatomy Of Inspiration
What is perhaps worth noting is the fact of autonomy of the unconscious. It arrives at solutions which apparently were beyond the capabilities of the conscious mind. Even more important, in many instances the conscious mind was reduced to the status of a mere observer - almost as if being possessed by an alien being. Not surprising that the roots of the word 'genius' an the 'genii' are same.
4. Combining: Building on Similarities
According to Koestler24 creative act involves the process of "Bisociation", in which components of one reality are superimposed on another reality. Not surprising that many discoveries and innovations were achieved by borrowing ideas from an entirely another field. The examples in the following stories show that often the simplicity of creative product lies in this very act of transplantation of ideas. This probably also accounts for the fact that often innovators and discoverers were outsiders to their field of creative achievement.
2. Laws Of Planetary Motion
3. Electricity From Clouds
5. Pneumatic Tyres
9. Just-In-Time System
11. Printing Press
14. Lawn Mower
21. Typewriter
26. How To Construct Underwater
27. Search For The "Hidden Likeness"
29. Cash Register
47. Electric Fan
56. Ice Cream Cones
63. Float Glass Technology
5. Exploration and Experimentation
It seems clear that the creative mind does not work in a systematic, step-by-step manner. More often than not, the major discoveries emerged through a process of random exploration and experimenting with ideas. Even in those cases where the insight was preceded by a preparatory stage of focused search and study, the preparation only led to more confusions and unacceptable solutions. The intense enquiries only helped the creative persons to purge out obvious, conventional, but inelegant, ideas. The following stories would provide a flavour of variety of these explorations.
3. Electricity From Clouds
4. Band-Aid
5. Pneumatic Tyres
6. Gummed Paper
13. Flashlight
15. Phonograph
16. Rubber Heels
33. Principle Of Photosynthesis
34. Ball Point Pen
35. Discovery Of X-Ray
37. Safety Glass
41. The Blunder That Founded 3M
43. Discovery Of Teflon
49. Proof Of The Big Bang
55. 3M's Post-It Note Pads
56. Ice Cream Cones
59. Helicopter
63. Float Glass Technology
65. Journey Into Unknown
66. The Genius Of Karl Fredrich Gauss
68. Neon Light
69. Transistor Radios
80. The Logic Of Irrational
6. Need and Motivations
Why do creative people produce?
One prime reason often has been the perception of a need. Sometimes the problem is forced on the creative individual because of life circumstances. Necessity, as we know well, is the mother of inventions.
But implied also is the creative person's tendency to seek perfection. Whereas the less creative individual feels satisfied with less-than-perfect solutions, the creative person is tends to look for a more flawless, and often convenient, solution to his problems. As one would see in the following stories, these creative individuals were not uniquely placed to experience the problem; there must have been thousands of others experiencing similar problems. What made the creative innovators different was that, like the "unreasonable person" of George Bernard Shaw, they toiled to adapt the world to their needs, rather than reasonably adapting to the world.
5. Pneumatic Tyres
13. Flashlight
14. Lawn Mower
16. Rubber Heels
21. Typewriter
29. Cash Register
34. Ball Point Pen
48. How Typhus Gets Transmitted
56. Ice Cream Cones
58. Ibm And Computers
63. Float Glass Technology
69. Transistor Radios
77. Travellers' Cheques
But external needs alone do not explain the persistence which creative efforts require. There is also some internal force which compels these people to create, and, in fact, is a distinguishing feature of the creative people. As the following stories show.
2. Laws Of Planetary Motion
3. Electricity From Clouds
22. The Theory Of Evolution
41. The Blunder That Founded 3M
54. The Compulsion To Create
63. Float Glass Technology
68. Neon Light
73. The "99% Perspiration"
74. Xeroxing
7. Resistance to Change
The history of creative ventures would be incomplete, if one fails to consider the human potential to reject new ideas. In a way this is mysterious: the same human mind which is capable of conjuring up new and insightful ideas, can also become equally insecure and rigid in accepting them. It is almost as if people hold an artificial boundary in their minds, which dictates which ideas are "thinkable" and which are "unthinkable". The following examples also show that it is not only the common people, but even the great minds, which are susceptible to such blocks.
7. The Trap Of Paradigm
12. Dangers Of Locomotives
28. Fermi's (Non)-Discovery Of Nuclear Fission
39. Why Aeroplanes Cannot Fly
45. Inventors' Blindness
49. Proof Of The Big Bang
60. How Experts Resist Ideas
72. The "Fraud" That Changed The World
74. Xeroxing
78. Edison's Fraud
8. Creative Process and Personality
Of course, all these story say something about the creative processes and the persons behind them. But there is something more to the creative person than just the product which he makes. The creative product is not a mere outcome of the labour; rather, it is an expression of the kind of person the creative individual is. The internal psychological processes which account for the creative achievement are, to say the least, complex and multifaceted, and reflect much more about the person than the product, as the following stories highlight.
1. Discoveries About Creativity
38. The Creative Triggers
45. Inventors' Blindness
46. The Excitement Of Creativity
54. The Compulsion To Create
65. Journey Into Unknown
70. Precocious Minds?
73. The "99% Perspiration"
76. The Anatomy Of Inspiration
79. Awe, Wonder And Alienation
80. The Logic Of Irrational
9. The Creative Mystique
To say the least, creativity is enigmatic. If one can fathom it in some ways, there are innumerable ways in which it defies comprehension. While the aspects discussed in the earlier sections do describe the characteristics of the creative act, they fail to fully explain its mystery. There is, of course, the mystery of simultaneous innovations. There are others also. For instance, Kekule dreamt of the snake biting its own tail, which he interpreted as the ring structure of benzene. But a snake biting its own tail is also an archetypal symbol of Uroboros - the Completeness - which has a universal place in the mythologies of cultures. If Kekule was not a chemist, but a religious prophet, he would have interpreted his dream as a divine revelation.
Similarly, it is surprising that so Boole's "mystique formula" became a cornerstone for computer programming more than a hundred years after his insight. Or, that Mendeleev's dream-table could predict the existence and properties of elements decades before they were discovered. In fact, this precognitive quality of creative thought is even more baffling in cases such as Gulliver's Travels and Futility which anticipated factual events much before their occurrence. The following stories are notable example of this creative mystique.
17. The Periodic Table
22. The Theory Of Evolution
23. Discovery Of The Benzene Ring
24. The Wreck Of Titanic
32. Boolean Algebra
44. Toynbee's The Study Of History
62. Predictions In Gulliver's Travels
67. Jean Coceteau's The Knights Of The Round Table
