Isaac
Newton and Gottfried Leibniz both invented the application of mathematics known
as calculus. When I say they both did, I don’t mean to imply they worked on it
together. They both independently invented calculus. Newton began working on
calculus in 1666 but didn’t publish anything about it until 1693. Leibniz began
working on it in 1674 but didn’t publish anything about it until 1684. Most
people today believe that the two men developed their ideas separately.
Charles
Darwin had been working on his theory of evolution for years. He developed the
theory in the 1830s but knew it would be controversial so he didn’t tell anyone
about it and continued to gather evidence to support his theory. In 1858 Alfred
Russell Wallace, an acquaintance of Darwin, sent Darwin a letter outlining a theory of evolution that Russell had come up with. Darwin was shocked.
Reportedly some passages were almost word for word the same as Darwin’s. The
two men had come up with the same idea.
The
reason these things happen are because scientific hypotheses are based on
previous knowledge and the latest methods. As methods and equipment evolve and
data increases, all scientists who have access to that data could reasonably
come to a similar conclusion. Indeed, Newton and Leibniz built on the work of
Kepler, Descartes, Pascal, and many others.
Priority is an
important concept in science. Priority means: who thought of it first? Who gets
the credit? There can be controversy when there are competing claims for a
discovery. It can be difficult to determine when each of the competing
scientists is responsible for discovering a portion of the puzzle. Both Giovanni Battista Grassi and
Ronald Ross discovered important facts about the life cycle of the malarial
parasites. There was an ugly fight over who should win the 1902 Nobel prize in
Medicine. The Nobel committee was originally going to give it to both
scientists, but then Ross engaged in a discrediting campaign against Grassi. He
won (scientists can be just as petty and mean-spirited as the rest of us). And though
Newton himself, at least initially, did not have a problem sharing the credit
for calculus with Leibniz; his friends did, and started a campaign to discredit
Leibniz. On the other hand, Darwin and Russell shared in the announcement about
evolution, and neither man made a claim of theft from the other.
Sometimes there is a discovery that everyone knows is out
there ripe for the plucking, but no one has found it yet. By 1953 many scientists
were trying to discover the structure of DNA. Lots of pieces of the puzzle had
been published. They all knew what components went into DNA, just not how it
was put together. James Watson and Francis Crick came up with a model that
worked, that ticked all the boxes. They along with Maurice Wilkins eventually
shared the Nobel prize for the discovery. But that discovery might just as
easily have been made by Rosalind Franklin, Erwin Chargaff, Linus Pauling, or
others. Or it is even possible that two different groups might have come up
with the same answer at the same time. It just happened that Watson and Crick
were the ones with the eureka moment. Not that scholarship and hard work aren't involved, but luck also plays a part.
Coincidental discoveries may seem odd. They might seem like
they should be the basis for a conspiracy theory. But when you look at the way science
is done; it is not odd at all.
(My science
fiction novel Star Liner, is now available in paperback or as an e-book
through Amazon and other online sources).
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