John Mulchaey argues that scientific progress needs room for investigations that might not work. He recalls how research on galaxy groups developed alongside his thesis on black holes and ultimately became a defining part of his career.
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8:44things that we don't expect to work." >> Right. >> For just this reason, because this is how big discoveries happen. >> Right. >> Hubble discovered, you know, the distance to Andromeda. He wasn't looking to measure the distance to Andromeda. He got lucky, right? He found a Cepheid variable star up in Mount Wilson there up on the hill. He found the star completely randomly and sent him in a different direction. The biggest discoveries in astronomy, certainly in probably all of science, happen from this. And so scientists, we always have It's very easy to kind of fall into the paradigms of what we know. >> Mhm. >> But we really have to try to break out of it. And so that was an example and it was hugely exciting, of course. It was a side project for me. It was not my thesis. My thesis was on black holes. It was great. I ended up doing that. But
9:25it's what got me my job at Carnegie and probably most of my career was based on this on this amazing result uh for these groups. >> Wow, that's actually such a cool story. To think that you almost didn't have that, You know. >> Yes, who knows where I would be.