Judith Tendler (1938-2016) was a development economist who, as consultant for international development agencies, combined in an original way scholarship in the social sciences and professional work. From field observation she was able to extract theoretical concepts that she used in her fruitful and extraordinary teaching cum research, especially with graduate students at MIT. Since her Ph.D. dissertation, conducted under the supervision of Albert Hirschman, she worked out her unconventional way of looking at reality: she suggested to look at any successes with a sense of awe (…) explaining what is happening against a background of what is predictable and what is a surprise