---
title: "Serendipity"
chunk: 3/3
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serendipity"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:46:00.971376+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

== Related terms ==
Several uncommonly used terms have been derived from the concept and name of serendipity.
William Boyd coined the term zemblanity in the late twentieth century to mean somewhat the opposite of serendipity: "making unhappy, unlucky and expected discoveries occurring by design". The derivation is speculative, but believed to be from Nova Zembla, a barren archipelago once the site of Russian nuclear testing.
Bahramdipity is derived directly from Bahram Gur as characterized in The Three Princes of Serendip.  It describes the suppression of serendipitous discoveries or research results by powerful individuals.
In addition, Solomon & Bronstein (2018) further distinguish between perceptual and realised pseudo-serendipity and nemorinity.

== See also ==
Browse
Coincidence
Felix culpa
Insight
Lateral thinking
Multiple discovery
Role of chance in scientific discoveries
Serendipaceratops
Serendipity Sapphire
Side effect
Synchronicity

== References ==

== Further reading ==
Merton, Robert K.; Barber, Elinor (2004). The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity: A Study in Sociological Semantics and the Sociology of Science. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691117546. (Manuscript written 1958).
Hannan, Patrick J. (2006). Serendipity, Luck and Wisdom in Research. iUniverse. ISBN 978-0595365517.
Roberts, Royston M. (1989). Serendipity: Accidental Discoveries in Science. Wiley. ISBN 978-0471602033.
Isabelle Rivoal and Noel B. Salazar (2013). Contemporary ethnographic practice and the value of serendipity, Social Anthropology, 21(2): 178–85.

== External links ==

ACM Paper on Creating serendipitous encounters in a geographically distributed community.
The Serendipity Equations
Serendipity of Science – a BBC Radio 4 series by Simon Singh
Video: Are Scientific Discoveries Merely Lucky Shots?, Samantha Copeland, Delft University of Technology