Do You Know About These Accidental Scientific Discoveries?

In 1877, chemist Constantin Fahlberg was trying to develop uses for coal tar in a lab at Johns Hopkins University. After a day of work, he sat down to eat dinner without washing his hands and found the roll he ate to be unusually sweet. He went back to the lab and tasted everything until he found the sweet source, the coal tar derivative benzoic sulfimide, now commonly known as saccharine.

While engineer Richard James was experimenting with coils to devise a contraption to secure equipment aboard ships for the U.S. Navy, he dropped the coils on the floor. As he watched them tumble end-over-end, he thought coils could make a fun toy. His wife Betty created the name Slinky, and in 1945, they founded James Industries to manufacture the Slinky toy.

In 1965, astronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson were looking for neutral hydrogen atoms with their radio telescope when they detected a strange signal they didn’t understand. They told astrophysicist Bob Dicke about the signal, and it happened to be just what Dicke was looking for: cosmic background radiation. CMB is electromagnetic radiation left over from the Big Bang and observable evidence of the Big Bang.

DuPont chemist Roy Plunkett was trying to find a safe alternative to toxic refrigerants such as ammonia when he started experimenting with tetrafluoroethylene gas (TFE). He found TFE had properties other than refrigerant, though: The substance TFE produced was heat-resistant and formed a low-friction surface. Dubbed Teflon, the substance was first commercially used as a coating for pots and pans.

When microbiologist Alexander Fleming went on vacation in 1928, he left out a Petri dish of Staphylococcus bacteria. When he returned, he found the dish covered in mold, which was curiously preventing the bacteria from growing. He discovered the mold produced a chemical that killed bacteria. The drug penicillin is the result of a purification process that isolates the bacteria-killing chemical.

In 1895, physicist Wilhelm Röntgen was experimenting in his lab with cathode rays when he noticed a chemically coated cardboard screen was glowing. The screen was too far away to be affected by the cathode rays. Röntgen dubbed the unknown cause of the glow “X-rays.” He experimented with X-rays and discovered they could penetrate flesh but not bone and could be photographed for medical diagnosis.

A substance called “sucker rod wax” frequently troubled oil riggers, who had to stop their work to clear it out of clogged wellheads. Chemist Robert Chesebrough hoped to eliminate the problem by purifying the wax, which he named petroleum jelly. He then successfully tested it as a topical analgesic for cuts and burns, which he patented as Vaseline.

Saltpeter, known now as potassium nitrate, was a common experimental ingredient in the elixir of life (also known as the Philosopher’s Stone), an elusive concoction believed to cure all diseases and bestow immortality. But when Tang Dynasty alchemists mixed the saltpeter with charcoal and sulfur and exposed it to a flame, the substance exploded. The mixture didn’t make a successful elixir of life, but it did become a useful weapon for the Chinese, who used it in warfare in grenades, flamethrowers, and landmines.

In 1886 at his lab in Atlanta, Georgia, pharmacist John Pemberton experimented with coca leaves and cola nuts to create a pain reliever. His lab assistant accidentally mixed carbonated water with the coca and cola syrup, and Coca-Cola was born. Pemberton sold the rights to the drink but died in 1888, just months before the Coca-Cola Corporation formed.

During World War II, physicist Percy Spencer was developing combat radar to track enemy aircraft. On a cold day while working with shortwave microwaves, he reached into his pocket for a candy bar, only to find it had melted despite the cold. He realized microwaves generate heat, and when trapped in a metal box, temperatures increase to heat food. In 1945, Spencer filed a patent for his accidental invention.