There are hundreds of scientists who spend their whole lives in researching something unique and highly inspiring. They contribute a lot of time in finding newer things so that, after them, the world can get facilitated from their inventions and discoveries. Let us see the top 10 accidental inventions that changed the world.
10. Artificial Sweetener
For most of us, washing of hands before eating is mandatory. The Artificial Sweetener is an invention of Constantin Fahlberg. It was invented in 1879 at the time when Fahlberg forgot to wash his hands before eating. He had been trying to come up with something new from coal tar. He started eating his meal and noticed that there’s something appearing on his snacks. Fahlberg returned to his lab, and initiated working to find what is that sweet component. After consulting his mentor, Ira Remsen, Fahlberg published a research paper on it, mentioning sufficient information about the newly discovered sweet substance Saccharine.
9. Microwave
Microwave radiations were discovered by Percy L. Spencer in 1945. This happened at the time when the scientist was studying the radiations of a tube, and noticed that the chocolate bar in his pocket is melting. This led him discover the microwave, which were actually the reason of melting of the chocolate in his pocket.
8. Chocolate Chip Cookies
According to sources, one day Mrs. Wakefield was busy in manufacturing chocolate cookies when she ran out of baker’s chocolate. She failed to get the baker’s chocolate timely, and had put broken pieces of semi-sweet chocolate in the batter, and hoped for their melting. This led the pieces become chocolate chip cookies. Later Mrs. Wakefield started selling these cookies to Nestle.
7. Superglue
Dr. Harry Coover had accidently created a substance known as ‘cyanoacrylate’. Sources reveal that this was nothing more than a miserable failure. During his work, Dr. Harry found that the cyanoacrylate polymerizes after coming in contact with moisture, and becomes the reason of the strongest chemical bonds ever. So, this led him discover the superglue.
6. Popsicle
In 1905, Frank Epperson was busy in making the Soda Pop – a popular drink of those days. He had prepared a mixture of a well-known soft drink and soda water, and left it for the whole night. The very next morning, he found the frozen Soda Pop sitting on a stick, which was used for stirring the mixture. Then he started its sale, and named it Popsicles.
5. Potato Chips
Potato chips were invented in 1853 by George Crum. During an experiment with wafer thin slices of potato, he kept on frying them, and wanted to make them thin and look nice because they were having thick and soggy look. But finally, the thin potato slices were named as potato chips.
4. Champagne
Champagne was discovered in 17th century during an experiment of Benedictine Monk. He was trying for more than three years to come up with a wine with bubbles. Most of his experiments failed, and one of them led him come up with a unique drink— Champagne, without which all of our celebrations, nowadays, are incomplete.
3. Ice Cream Cone
Before 1904, ice creams were served in plates only. But an accident led one of the scientists come up with ice cream cone. In 1904, during the World Fair, ice creams were sold in large quantities that even the medium-sized plates were not enough. To keep the business going, the vendors came up with the idea of selling ice cream in thin wafers. Later cones were formed with these wafers.
2. X–Rays
In 1895, Wilhelm Roentgen, a German physicist, was busy in an experiment with cathode rays. During the experiment, he noticed a piece of fluorescent cardboard which had lighted the lap. Then he decided to place a thick screen before the cathode rays. Doing this, he found that brilliant images were produced, which he named as ‘X-Rays’.
1. Penicillin
Penicillin was also invented in an accident of 20th century. This widely used anti-biotic was discovered in 1928 by Alexander Fleming, a Scottish scientist. What happened was that Fleming hadn’t cleaned his lab, and went on vacation. When he returned, he saw a strange blue-green mold around some of his bacterial clusters (Staphylococcus). He named this blue green mold as Penicillin.
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