According to an entry in Wikipedia, “Serendipity is the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely.” During my time as a library researcher for Saudi Aramco, I learned the value of a serendipitous approach to research. I often found answers to research questions I had worked on for several days while researching an entirely different topic.
Serendipity led me to a fascinating article about the way Marvin Johnson, a prolific inventor, managed to straddle the worlds of chemistry and engineering.
In his words, "Chemistry is about exploring, but it is not about developing processes once you've discovered them. It's where the research starts. Engineering is very quantitative. It's about sequences of steps and descriptions of processes."
As a researcher for Phillips Petroleum, he was able to apply this insight to solve a large number of specific, practical problems in refining technology.
It is the kind of approach that will help any researcher involved in the desulfurization of the hydrocarbon stream.
View the article at:
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/59/johnson.html
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