Dr. Bernard Bateman is the founder of the science of coincidence. While at the University of Virginia, he formulated definitions and methodology for the scientific study of coincidences. During his research, he heard of many surprising coincidences and shared some of them.
A fateful look into the trash can
Journalist Stephen Diamond came to San Francisco with only $ 10. He couldn't afford to buy a notepad, but he was overcome with inspiration. He wanted to steal the notebook, but he soon found the notebook lying among the rubbish, old rags, shoes and old books.
The notepad bore the words Stephen Diamond, Master. What is the likelihood of finding an unspoiled notebook in the middle of the trash with your name on it at the moment when you need it most?
He wrote the story "What the Trees Said", which brought him fame.
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Strong coincidence shocked the skeptic
Dr. Michael Shermer is the founder of Skeptic magazine, director of the Skeptic Society, and monthly contributor to Scientific American.
In his column on September 16, he wrote about the experience that led him to draw the following conclusions: "We must not lock the doors of perception when they open to show us the unknown world."
His fiance's belongings were transported from Germany to the United States. Among them was her grandfather's 1978 radio. She was very friendly with her grandfather, who died when she was 16 years old. The radio was out of service for decades. Shermer tried to repair it, but he failed. It was in a drawer in the bedroom.
They got married three months later. After the wedding ceremony, his wife wanted to talk to him in private. She felt lonely, lacked German relatives, and wanted her grandfather to be around. The couple returned home where they heard music, a romantic song.
They couldn't find the source of the music. Then his wife looked at him in horror: “This cannot be! Isn't that what I was thinking? - she said.
It was playing an old radio in a drawer.
“My grandfather is with us,” she said in tears. - I'm not alone.
Shermer's daughter heard music from the radio before the ceremony. But the couple entered the room at this time, and did not hear anything. The radio continued playing all night.
“It stopped working the next day and wouldn't turn on again,” Shermer writes.
Penicillin discovery coincidences
The antibiotic penicillin, which revolutionized the treatment of bacterial infections, was discovered through a series of coincidences.
Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming caught a cold in November 1921. He had a cold and one snot fell into a saucer of bacteria. He saw that the snot had killed the bacteria, leaving a "zone of suppression" around. The component that killed the bacteria turned out to be the enzyme lysozyme from his mucus, but lysozyme could not be mass-produced as an antibiotic.
Almost a decade later, he was doing research at St. Mary's Hospital. The conditions in the laboratory were very bad: there were cracks in the ceiling and a draft in the room.
He went on vacation and left the petri dish in the sink. When he returned, before washing it, he decided to examine its contents and saw that it was full of dead bacteria. The zone of suppression formed near some mushrooms that accidentally fell into the saucer: spores flew through cracks in the ceiling from a room on the lower floor where another experiment was being conducted.
The spores flew to the right place at the right time, when the temperature was optimal. If the bacteria in the dish were in a different phase of development, then the fungi could not produce the desired effect.
Fleming realized that mold can kill bacteria. But it wasn't until the 1940s that another group of scientists who experimented with mice discovered that mold (penicillin) can survive inside a mammal and has the potential to treat bacterial infections in humans. They were doing research in another area, it was an accidental discovery.
Thus, Fleming noticed a zone of suppression around the snot, this factor helped to achieve results with further matches. This is one of the reasons Dr. Bateman is so interested in learning about coincidence - awareness can help people pay more attention to useful coincidences, he says.
If the lab were in better condition, the spores would never end up in Fleming's sink. If Fleming hadn't been so pedantic, he would not have studied the mold before washing it off and would not have noticed the zone of suppression. If the mold spores had not landed at the right time, Fleming would not have been able to make his discovery. At least he would not have done it at that time, perhaps penicillin would have been discovered later.
A lot of coincidences and a little observation led to a discovery that saved millions of lives.