Role of chance in scientific discoveries

Scientific discoveries depend upon chance in a few different ways. Chance can provide scientists with new ideas or new ways of looking at the world. Sometimes, while working on a project, they may make small mistakes that lead to important discoveries. For example, Albert Einstein famously realized that the universe is always expanding while making a math mistake! Finally, when scientists are experimenting, they are usually trying to observe something that hasn't been seen before. If something unexpected and interesting happens, that could be due to luck or random chance. So, even though scientists are experts in their field, luck and chance sometimes still play a role!