As Thomas A. Edison said, ‘Great ideas originate in the muscles’. The inventions and discoveries are the outcomes of devotion of the Scientist who pursuits of innovation and findings. Here is the list of top accidental discoveries which were not deliberate but in way of progress of findings.
Top 10 Accidental Discoveries that changed the World
1. Penicillin
Source: a.abcnews.com
Year: 1928
Country: Scotland
Scientist: Alexander Fleming
Incident: He independently discovered healing properties of P. glaucum, during the cure process infected guinea pigs from typhoid. It is not known, however, whether the active chemical in these studies was in fact penicillin. He used the term "penicillin" to depict the filtrate of a broth culture of the Penicillium mould.
2. The Microwave
Source: www.scientificamerican.com
Year: 1945
Country: United States of America
Scientist: Percy Spencer
Incident: The concept of Microwave was invented when Spencer was working on building magnetrons for radar sets, he was standing in front of an active radar set then he got to know the candy bar in his pocket melted. Hence, he was the first who invested the reason and finally he gave the world “Microwave” by using electromagnetic waves.
3. Velcro
Source: www.instructables.com
Year: 1948
Country: Switzerland
Scientist: Georges de Mestral
Incident: He discovers the Velcro when he went for a walk in the woods then suddenly he realised that something clung to his trouser. He investigated and came with the product named Velcro that was consists of two components- fabric strip with tiny hook and another fabric with fabric loop that attached each other by combining them.
4. Teflon
Year: 1938
Country: USA
Scientist: Roy Plunkett
Incident: During his work at DuPont, he found that the bottle's interior coated with a waxy white material that was oddly slippery. Analysis showed that it was polymerized perfluoroethylene, with the iron from the inside of the container having acted as a catalyst at high pressure. In this way Teflon was invented which is now used as pelting material on cookware to avoid sticky tendencies.
5. Pacemaker
Source: www.drugline.org
Year: 1985
Country: USA
Scientist: Wilson Greatbatch
Incident: The invention came into existence when assistant professor at the University of Buffalo rejected his project. Then he designed 10,000 ohm resistor of box to use on a heart-recording prototype that resulted a circuit produced a signal that sounded for 1.8 milliseconds, and then paused for a second — a dead ringer for the human heart. In this pacemaker was invented which is now widely used for the people who have heart problem especially related with the problem heart-beat.
6. Radioactivity
Source: www.ecowatch.com
Year: Early 1900
Country: France
Scientist: Antoine Henri Becquerel
Incident: On the Basis of Roentgen method, Becquerel surrounded several photographic plates with black paper and florescent salts. With the intention of further moving forward the study of x-rays, He intended to place the disguised photographic paper in the sunlight and observe what transpired. After a few days Becquerel returned to his experiment unwrapping the photographic paper and developing it, expecting only a light imprint from the salts. Instead, the salts left very distinct outlines in the photographic paper suggesting that the salts, regardless of lacking an energy source, continually fluoresced. What Becquerel had discovered was radioactivity.
7. Viagra
Source: www.onlinedoctor.lloydspharmacy.com
Year: 1998
Country: New York, USA
Company: Pfizer pharmaceutical company
Incident: The pharmaceutical company Pfizer developed a pill named UK92480 to help compress these arteries for preventing pain. The pill failed its primary purpose, but the secondary side effect was startling. And know it is commonly known as Viagra.
8. Bakelite
Source: www.university.langantiques.com
Year: 1907
Country: New York, USA
Scientist: Leo Baekeland
Incident: During invention of Velox photographic paper, Baekeland discovered a hard mouldable material by controlling pressure and temperature on phenol and formaldehyde which he named as ‘Bakelite’ which was the first thermostatting plastic.
9. Slinky
Source: www.d3sje6yujxb175.cloudfront.net
Year: Early 1940s
Country: USA
Scientist: Richard James
Incident: During his work at William Cramp and Sons shipyards in Philadelphia, he was surprised when accidentally knocked one of the springs from a shelf and watched as the spring "stepped" in a series of arcs to a stack of books, to a tabletop, and to the floor, where it re-coiled itself and stood upright. This incident compels him towards the fact finding and as result ‘Slinky’ was discovered.
10. Coca-Cola
Source: www.wallpaperscraft.com
Year: 1886
Country: Georgia, USA
Scientist: John Pemberton
Incident: In his time, the soda fountain was rising in popularity as a social gathering spot. Temperance was keeping patrons out of bars, so making a soda-fountain drink just made sense. And this was when Coca-Cola was born. He patents the Coca-Cola formula. He also wrote the slogan, "The Pause That Refreshes."
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