Chemistry, it seems, is prone to adventurous research. Accidental discoveries are common, almost the rule in chemistry some scientists contend. Combine glorious happenstance – spilling things, dropping things, leaky equipment, dirty Petri dishes – with apparatuses such as blowpipes, funnels, cylinders, and Bunsen burners, that heat and hold various elements, and magic happens, that is, if the observer has a beautiful mind.

“Serendipity in Physical Chemistry: How discoveries are made,” is the topic of this week’s Pinhead Town Talk, held Tuesday, June 27, 2006, 6:00 – 7:15 pm at the Telluride Conference Center in Mountain Village. It will be given by Millard Alexander, who received his B. A. magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1964, and his Ph. D. with distinction from the University of Paris in 1967, and is now Distinguished Professor at University of Maryland at College Park. Admission is free and there will be a cash bar. This summer’s Pinhead Town Talk science lecture series is sponsored by the Town of Mountain Village.

Famed French scientist, Louis Pasteur, who discovered the germ theory of disease in the 19th Century, once wrote, “In the field of observations, chance favors only the prepared mind.” In his own lab in the 1870s, a young assistant spilled a bottle of collodion and left the mess for another day, leading to the discovery of “artificial silk,” later called Rayon.

By being clumsy, a touch of careless, a bit playful, and deeply curious, prepared minds have also accidentally discovered and developed Nylon, superglue, finger printing, penicillin, Viagra, X-rays, Teflon, and indigo dye to name a few. With great observational skills and a keen understanding of the scientific method, Alexander has just that sort of “prepared mind.”

Dr. Alexander’s own academic research involves the theoretical study of collisions between small atoms and molecules. He has made major contributions to the understanding of how electrons influence the outcome of molecular encounters and reactions. He is the author of the Hibridon suite of computer codes for the study of inelastic molecular collisions.

Chemists themselves are more playful than one might imagine. As Oliver Sacks wrote in Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a chemical boyhood, “My first taste was for the spectacular – the frothings, the incandescences, the stinks and the bangs, which almost define my first entry into chemistry.” Sacks, like most chemists experimenting as children, enjoyed pulverizing and roasting chemicals into satisfying explosions. He thought of chemicals as a garden. When not doing science, Dr. Alexander’s interests veer close to Telluride’s heart – heli-skiing, canoeing, flying a single-engine Trinidad airplane, and windsurfing.

However, playfulness and serendipity may not necessarily be a positive thing in all fields. The word “serendipity” originated in 1754 when an English writer named Walpole coined the word by drawing on an old Persian fairy tale of the three Princes of Serendip who were known for making discoveries through accidents and sagacity. Serendipity might be especially suited for chemistry or love but not, say, in aeronautics or engineering. “In engineering an accidental discovery is called a loss of license, or lives especially in structural engineering,” says mechanical engineer Dustin Sullivan, of ME&E Engineering in Durango.

To learn more about the serendipity, happenstance, unexpected results, adventurous research, in chemistry come to the conference center Tuesday night at 6:00 and enjoy a glass of wine.

For more information go to www.pinheadinstitute.org or call Nana Naisbitt, executive Director of Pinhead Institute at 970-708-0004.

June 26, 2006
For more information call
Nana Naisbitt 970-708-0004