Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today, following on from last month's post about killer inventions, I was thinking about inventions that came about by accident.
It's amazing how many familiar products came about by sheer fluke.
Here are a few examples of those lucky enough to create something successful by accident:
Slinky – Inventor: Richard Jones
– He was actually trying to make a meter to monitor power on battleships using tension springs
Penicillin – Inventor: Alexander Fleming
– He was actually trying to make a wonder drug - penicillin was discovered on a dish he threw away
Choc chip cookies – Inventor: Ruth Wakefield
– She was actually trying to make normal chocolate cookies but the bits didn't melt
Crisps – Inventor: George Crum
– He was actually trying to make a plate of fried potato that a customer insisted needed to be thinner
Pacemaker – Inventor: John Hopps
– He was actually trying to make a way to use radio frequency to restore body temperature
Silly Putty – Inventor: James Wright
– He was actually trying to make a rubber
substitute out of silicon during WWII
Microwave – Inventor: Percy Spencer
– He was actually trying to make a radar related project
Saccharin – Inventor: Constantine Fahlberg
– She was actually trying to make a oxidisation experiment - a chemical spill lead to a sweet discovery
Fireworks – Inventor: chef in China
– He was actually trying to make a new cooking
experiment using charcoal, sulphur and saltpetre
Scotchgard – Inventor: Patsy Sherman
– She was actually trying to make a rubber material that would be resistant to exposure from jet fuels
Cornflakes – Inventor: John and Will Kellogg
– They were actually trying to make boiled grain but they left it on the stove too long
LSD – Inventor: Albert Hofmann
– He was actually trying to make lysergic acid
derivatives and accidentally swallowed some
Post-its – Inventor: Spencer Silver
– He was actually trying to make a strong
adhesive and ended up with the opposite result
X Rays – Inventor: Wilhelm
Rontgen
– He was actually trying to make advances in cathodic ray tube experiments
Inkjet printer – Inventor: Canon engineer
– He was actually wasn't trying to make anything - he was on a break but rested his hot iron on his pen
Who knows what other coincidental creations will be made in the future
