Is discovery the work of genius, or an inevitable social process? The data suggest neither; maybe its chance!
(Sorry about video “hunting;” I’m getting used to a new camera!)
Scientific creativity as constrained stochastic behavior: the integration of product, person, & process perspectives (DK Simonton, 2003) www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12848217 , (full text in less-readable format here: documents.tips/documents/scientific-creativity-as-constrained-stochastic-behavior-the-integration-of.html)
Scientific Creativity as a Combinatorial Process: The Chance Baseline (DK Simonton, 2009) link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-1-4020-9877-2_4
On The Tendency Of Varieties To Depart Indefinitely From The Original Type (Wallace, 1858) www.rpgroup.caltech.edu/courses/PBoC%20GIST/files_2011/articles/Ternate%201858%20Wallace.pdf
Multiple Discovery on Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_discovery
Heroic Theory on Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroic_theory_of_invention_and_scientific_development
List of Multiple Discoveries on Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_multiple_discoveries
THUNK Episode 78. Steampunk, Babbage, & Lovelace www.youtube.com/watch?v=g17dqIoK-0I
THUNK Episode 118. The Antikythera Mechanism www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM3BDiKQdc4