I saw on TV last night on knowledge network... the show "100 greatest scientific discoveries". They have Bill Nye (the science guy) as the show host/narrator and he went through all the breakthrough discoveries in chemistry. I got to watch half an hour or so of the beginning before the channel was switched on me.
Anyways, I noticed the following pattern...
The breakthroughs in science... Much is discovered due to serendipity. Discovery of oxygen, synethesis of uric acid from inorganic compounds, the existence of electrons... All originated from the observation that something weird happened. Keen observation or insight followed by systematic testing and refinement.
I guess you can say Ne (and to some extent Ni. Discovering the structure of benzene... a dream... of a snake swallowing its tail... a ring. The benzene ring.) helps in making a breakthrough... but the follow through is all sweat and blood.