'Great discoveries come by accident'

Sheldon Glashow's visit to India is not a case of 'blind chance' but part of the pre-planned 'intelligent design' initiated by Honeywell.

Glashow who received the 1979 Nobel prize winner in Physics, however very strongly believes that many of the greatest scientific discoveries happen purely accidentally "" Blind Chance what he calls it.

"Some discoveries really take place accidentally, and it has happened in many occasion. I firmly believe that such accidents still do happen, especially in the medical industry in areas of new drug discovery," Glashow, who is here to participate in the Nobel Laureate Lecture series being organised by Honeywell at the Visvesvaraya Technological University campus in Belgaum, said.

The author of three books and several hundred research papers, who received Nobel for his works on elementary particles said the discovery of penicillin was a complete accident; so also the discovery of infrared radiation.

Even there are example of an absent-minded chemist who instead of putting his burning cigarette into the ash-tray has put that into a bottle of chemicals; and this has accidentally let to some new scientific discovery.

However, Glashow is not all-together averse to discovery by intelligent design. The discovery of ultraviolet ray was a complete design. There are also numerous other examples where many scientific discoveries have resulted from targetted and premeditated research, he says, adding that this is one area where the industry plays an important role.

"I think very important ideas reflect to cooperation between the industry and academia. However, the industry must be prepared to get what they are looking for, and they need to be flexible, by going for discoveries not just by design," Glashow said.

Glashow, is on his first visit to India will address the students and faculties of VTU in their campus on December 6 and 7.

"I believe that the this country is going to be a major producer of scientists and technologists who can play a lead role in global level."

He said his aim would be to remind the young people how technology is essential for India, and for the world, during the lecture.

Honeywell started its partnership with VTU few years back.

Presently, VTU offers a Master programme on Aerospace Engineering & Avionics for Honeywell's employees, which will soon be opened to people outside of Honeywell, said Krishna Mikkilineni, Managing Director, Honeywell Technology Solution.