Many important discoveries or creations are accidental: it is usually while seeking the answer to one question that we come across the answer to another.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.
It is said that some of the most significant discoveries and inventions were accidental and came about by pure chance. I’m afraid I disagree with this statement; most discoveries and innovations result from years of diligent work and thought.
For example, in 1928, a researcher at Rockefeller University, Oswald Avery, made a synthetic bacterium from a staphylococcus bacterium and an E. coli bacterium. After growing the bacteria, he raised them in their broth and noticed that one of the colonies was not increasing. He sent a broth sample to a microbiologist friend, who recognized it as a new species and named it vibrio. This bacterium would eventually be known as the cause of cholera. In addition, Avery’s research was the key to the unraveling of the mystery of polio. In 1931, researchers isolated a virus from a child with polio and isolated the polio vaccine in 1952.
In these instances, Avery’s accidental experiment would have produced no evidence at all if it were not for the continued research of his work by other researchers. Therefore, while it is true that many significant discoveries and inventions came about by chance, it is also true that such discoveries and innovations would not have been possible without years of diligent and careful work.