ABSTRACT
The role of serendipity is much underestimated in science. Thinking back on my 25 years of friendship and collaboration with Gordon Bower, I am struck by the accidental nature of our first encounter, and how easily we may not have met at all. In 1980 I was a young academic, just 3 years after finishing my doctorate at Oxford. I was already planning my first sabbatical leave, thanks to the generous provisions of my university in Sydney. I decided to go to Stanford, even though I had no personal contacts or a sponsor there. My request for sabbatical facilities was handled by one Gordon Bower, who just happened to be chair of the Stanford
department. After several exchanges that revealed no marked enthusiasm by Stanford social psychologists to sponsor me, Gordon wrote back a characteristically generous and to-the-point letter, to the effect that “well, hell, why don’t you just come and work with my group?”
