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

• Serendipity is the happy accident of finding something good or useful while not specifically searching for it.
• In a scientific career, you have to be prepared to be lucky.
• International connections have provided the author with opportunities for career growth and enriched his life.
• One of the privileges of an academic career is the opportunity to interact and learn one’s graduate students.

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.