Alexandre Zougman

Biochemist, medic, inventor. Personal account

[Alexandre Zougman @AZougman]

Kramatorsk. Ukraine. 2018
photo by Dmitriy Alimkin

[Alexandre Zougman @AZougman]

@selivanoff @Northern_more

[Alexandre Zougman @AZougman]

@sebyaun У нас тоже

[Alexandre Zougman @AZougman]

@Ningyo_ho На добраніч

[Alexandre Zougman @AZougman]

@sebyaun Поздравляю!

[Alexandre Zougman @AZougman]

@Ningyo_ho В хлебопечке?

[Alexandre Zougman @AZougman]

@Northern_more Москва-Петушки?

[Alexandre Zougman @AZougman]

@blinpolin12 @J0hn_3Volta Я бы тоже не здоровался

[Saloni @salonium]

I’m a disbeliever in accidental discoveries (at least, in biology). Whenever I’ve looked into one, the story turns out to be false.

The most famous is penicillin – supposedly, the fungi wafted in through a window, fell into a petri dish of cultured staphylococci, and suppressed the bacteria’s growth.

But in a recent article (https://t.co/s99LBvhZkY), @kevinsblake explains that doesn’t really work (grown staphylococci aren’t affected by penicillin; it only works if introduced before the bacteria begin growing); plus, Fleming’s notes on the discovery provide very little detail and the specific results he described couldn’t be replicated by other scientists (even though penicillin does work against staphylococci when introduced correctly.)

There are more: Pasteur’s supposedly accidental discovery of a chicken cholera vaccine was more likely the result of systematic work by his then-assistant, Émile Roux. (https://t.co/GzhMmBxPQv)

And, as @NikoMcCarty writes, the discovery of GFP, nanopore sequencing, and optogenetics are also often described as accidents, but none of them happened that way either. https://t.co/0qeStnCNPT

People love serendipity, so why am I bursting their bubble?

I don’t think this is limited to accidental discoveries; I think many historical science anecdotes are highly embellished:

- Edward Jenner didn’t deliberately expose a young boy with full-blown smallpox to test his vaccine (he used variolation); and he wasn’t the first to try using cowpox https://t.co/tPg9k6DqO7
- Cobra catching bounties in British India didn’t lead to a rise in the number of snakebites, and there was only hearsay evidence that cobras were bred in response at all https://t.co/fuXEL49nu2
- Barry Marshall didn’t develop stomach ulcers from drinking a concoction of H. pylori (he did develop gastritis though…) https://t.co/WwG23fkIbI
- No one knows who actually found the highly-productive strain of penicillin on a cantaloupe, but it probably wasn’t 'Moldy Mary' https://t.co/u8q2U4i386

But in this case it irks me for an additional reason – it gives the impression that innovation happens sporadically, by chance, when there are actually ways that we can systematically speed it up – such as better funding, institutions and incentives.

So: are there any true accidental discoveries that hold up to scrutiny?

[Alexandre Zougman @AZougman]

@sebyaun Очень мимишный Дракула :)

[Alexandre Zougman @AZougman]

@FumFudge Мощь!

[Alexandre Zougman @AZougman]

@sebyaun А раньше не получится тряхнуть стариной?

[Alexandre Zougman @AZougman]

@verinykresla Ой, как я очень это богатство люблю и уважаю!

[Alexandre Zougman @AZougman]

@Northern_more 💯

[Alexandre Zougman @AZougman]

@vauzhao Не зря. Хорошо, что застрелился.

[Alexandre Zougman @AZougman]

@ErikLindy @simonmaechling It's a good book, indeed

[Alexandre Zougman @AZougman]

@merimarimore — Но ведь мне аптекарь говорил, что это будет радикально черный цвет. Не смывается ни холодной, ни горячей водой, ни мыльной пеной, ни керосином… Контрабандный товар!

[Alexandre Zougman @AZougman]

@umerenno Хлорид кобальта, наоборот, в сухом состоянии - синий, а в водном растворе - розовый.

[Alexandre Zougman @AZougman]

@sebyaun 🙏