#ThinkfullyHabit: Chase your curiosity
How do breakthroughs happen? It’s amazing how many times they start with a chance observation that triggers a spark which leads to a discovery.
Take the example of how the microwave oven came to be. The first one was built by a company called Raytheon in 1947, but the chance observation behind it took place two years earlier. Engineer, Percy L. Spencer, was testing magnetrons (high-powered vacuum tubes used to generate microwaves for short-range military radar transmitters during World War II) and while walking through the radar testing room, he accidentally stepped too close to the magnetron tube. It melted the peanut snack bar in his pocket and turned it into a gooey mess. Percy L. Spencer was not the first person to notice the heating properties of magnetrons; however, he was the first to follow the spark of curiosity to investigate it further.
“I think if you are curious, you create opportunities, and then if you open the doors, you create possibilities. ”
WHY?
Spencer’s curiosity spurred him on from what was an accidental observation to quickly testing out the possibilities. He started by pointing the magnetron at an egg, which promptly exploded because the yolk cooked faster than the outside and caused the egg to burst. He also tried it on kernels of corn which obligingly turned into popcorn. This was enough to quickly spur him on further still, to build a metal box into which he could feed the microwave power without the energy escaping. By doing this, he confirmed that microwaves could indeed cook food far faster than usual ovens and it wasn’t long before the company was testing out all sorts of microwaved foods.
While accounts differ on just how overnight or gradual Spencer’s discovery was, they all unite on how it followed a chance observation that provoked the curiosity which led to the experiments and resulted in the breakthrough. One of his colleagues put his success down to the fact that Spencer did not have a formal education and didn’t finish grammar school, “The educated scientist knows many things won't work. Percy doesn't know what can't be done."
When you feel the spark of curiosity, the trick is to suspend its dismissal and instead quickly follow it to see where it could lead. Curiosity is a route out beyond existing expertise; providing a way to navigate around what's currently in view and what is already known. It's exploring new links which haven't yet been tried.
Curiosity is the powerful force that explains how the microwave oven now sits on millions of kitchen worktops and why chasing curiosity can be a trait and not just a one-off incident. It's a trait that explains Percy L. Spencer's 'tinker and see' approach and why he went on to receive as many as 150 patents throughout the course of his career.
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