"This phenomenon of simultaneous discovery -- what science historians call "multiples" -- turns out to be extremely common." In 1922, when William Ogborn and Dorothy Thomas put together their first comprehensive list of multiples, they found 448 major scientific discoveries that fit the pattern of being made by several individuals at more or less the same time.
Logarithms were invented by John Napier and Henry Briggs in Britain at the same time as they were invented by Joost Burgi in Switzerland. Evolution? Charles Darwin and, separately, Alfred Russell Wallace. Color photography? Charles Cros in the UK and Louis Ducos du Hauron in France. Oxygen? Joseph Priestly in Wiltshire and, a year earlier, Carl Wilhelm Scheele in Uppsala. "'There were four independent discoveries of sunspots, all in 1611; namely, by Galileo in Italy, Scheiner in Germany, Fabricius in Holland and Harriott in England,' Ogburn and Thomas note(d)."
Malcolm Gladwell's fascinating article in this week's New Yorker, In the Air: Who says Big Ideas are Rare? takes a look at the phenomenon of multiples as well as the role of collaboration in innovation. In it he suggests that ideas actually aren't all that rare. That, with the right intellectual stew and ample time and stimulation, ideas are literally a dime a dozen.
Nathan Myhrvold's Intellectual Ventures process of "invention sessions" serves as great inspiration for anyone looking for profitable new ideas. And, for me, it is far too tempting to resist comparing this process with the all too frequent mass killing of ideas that routinely takes place at law firm management committee meetings.
Read the article. It isn't short, but you'll be glad you spent the time. I guarantee it will leave you hitting the "send" button to convene an invention session of your own. What could be more fun?
Or profitable.
Comments