… und in vitro ist Nacht

This paper deals with reasons and consequences of scientific failure: When do we talk of «failure» in science? How definite is desaster in experiments? Can we characterize a certain type of scientist who might be bound to fail? How do scienists try to avoid getting defeated and how do they manage to get up again if they were? What will happen to the forework of a lost project? Will it be lost, too? What will happen to the forethoughts, to the scientist’s intentions, what will happen to his hopes? Do we actually need to prevent it by any means and to reveal any moment it has happened? Perhaps, there might be a creative potential hidden in situations of failure, an additional painful motivation deriving from being left with one’s mere honesty as a researcher in absence of honours as a successful finder. Perhaps, the very moment of failure is just the one to discover one’s identity as a scientist, having worked for nothing than the simple truth of error. Perhaps, failure is one of the greatest chances scientists have.