The role of serendipity in my career in mineral physics: 1963–2013

My career in mineral physics has taken me on a journey from the California Institute of Technology to Columbia University to the Australian National University and finally to Stony Brook University over the course of the past 50 years. This path has been largely governed by serendipity [i.e., a series of happy accidents or pleasant surprises]. The goal of this paper is to share with young scientists the concept that it is not always possible to predict your career path and you should be prepared to take advantage of serendipitous events.