 |
From popsicles to super glue. Take a look a these 10 Things That Were Discovered Accidentally
Popsicles
Accidentally discovered on 1905. Frank Epperson was 11 when he left a drink outside on a cold night. Two decades later he patented his frozen ice on a stick. link
Super Blue
Accidentally discovered on 1942. While trying to develop a precision gun sight, Dr Harry Coover created cyanoacrylate. He ignored the adhesive substance for 6 years before realizing its potential.
Synthetic Dyes
Accidentally discovered on 1856. William Perkin stumbled on the first ever synthetic dye while looking for a malaria cure. The dye was a vibrant mauve color
Teflon
Accidentally discovered on 1938. Roy Plunkett was trying to create a new CFC but inadvertenly created some white flakes. The flakes turned out to have non-stick properties.
Slink
Accidentally discovered on 1943. Richard James was developing springs to stabilize sensitive instruments on naval vessels. He dropped one of them and it moved with trademark slinky style.
Microwave Ovens
Accidentally discovered on 1945. Percy Spencer was testing a magnetron when he noticed a chocolate bar in his pocket had melted. He found microwaves had cooked his candy.
Saccharin
Accidentally discovered on 1879. Constantine Fahlberg didn’t wash his hands after working with coal tar. The chemicals on his hands made his food taste sweet and saccharin was born.
Velcro
Accidentally discovered on 1941. George de Mestral noticed seeds would stick to him and his dog. He found these seeds to have tiny hooks and from there he got the idea for
Velcro
Implantable Pacemaker
Accidentally discovered on 1958. Wilson Greatbatch installed the wrong resistor in an oscillator designed to record heart
sounds. The resulting circuit pulsed at the same rate as a human heartbeat.
Penicillin
Accidentally discovered on 1928. Alexander Fleming found bacteria-killing mold growing on cultures he’d left out while on vacation. The mold was turned into the first antibiotic in 1940
|