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10 Accidental Discoveries That Changed the World

From penicillin and anesthesia to saccharin and silly putty, chance played a major role in some of the world's great inventions.

Close up of examining of test sample under the microscope
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Accidental discoveries

Some things weren’t meant to be, but in the end, turned about to be something great. Read on to learn about how these happy accidents were first discovered. Check out the most amazing space discoveries from the last decade.

accidental discoveries put to good use penicillin
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Penicillin

Inventor: Alexander Fleming
Year: 1928
What Happened: Halfway through an experiment with bacteria, Alexander Fleming up and went on vacation. Slob that he was, he left a dirty petri dish in the lab sink.
Big Discovery: When he got back, he found bacteria had grown all over the plate, except in an area where mold had formed.
As a Result: That discovery led to two things: 1) penicillin and 2) Mrs. Fleming hiring a maid. Few other inventions can top that one, though these famous inventions from every state may rank right up there!

accidental discoveries put to good use anesthesia
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Anesthesia

Inventor: Horace Wells
Year: 1844
What Happened: In its salad days, nitrous oxide was strictly a party toy, since it made people howl like hyenas. But a friend of the dentist took too much of the stuff at a laughing-gas stage show and gashed his leg.
Big Discovery: The friend hadn’t realized he’d hurt himself.
As a Result: Nitrous oxide became an early form of anesthesia. Check out these real words that were mistakenly invented.

accidental discoveries put to good use saccharin
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Saccharin

Inventors: Constantin Fahlberg and Ira Remsen
Year: 1879
What Happened: After spending the day studying coal tar derivatives, Fahlberg left his Johns Hopkins laboratory and went to dinner.
Big Discovery: Something he ate tasted particularly sweet, which he traced to a chemical compound he’d spilled on his hand. Best of all, it turned out to be calorie-free.
As a Result: He cut Remsen and the university out of millions of dollars when he secretly patented the breakthrough discovery, saccharin. Learn about the weirdest things archaeologists have discovered.

accidental discoveries put to good use microwave
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The Microwave

Inventor: Percy Spencer
Year: 1946
What Happened: With the end of World War II, the Raytheon engineer was looking for other uses for the magnetron, which generated the microwaves for radar systems. While Spencer was standing next to the device one day, a chocolate bar in his pocket melted.
Big Discovery: The magnetron worked even better on popcorn.
As a Result: Orville Redenbacher became very rich. Here are the foods that were also invented by accident.

Anti-impotence viagra tablets
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Viagra

Inventors: Scientists at Pfizer
Year: 1992
What Happened: A Welsh hamlet was ground zero for a test on a pill to fight angina. Unfortunately for the afflicted, it had little success against the disease.
Big Discovery: Though it didn’t work, the men taking part in the study refused to give up their medicine.
As a Result: The scientists switched gears and marketed the drug, Viagra, for a very different purpose.

accidental discoveries put to good use gum
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Chewing Gum

Inventor: Thomas Adams
Year: 1870
What Happened: He was experimenting with chicle, the sap from a South American tree, as a substitute for rubber. After mounting failures, the dejected inventor popped a piece into his mouth.
Big Discovery: He liked it!
As a Result: Adams New York No. 1 became the first mass-produced chewing gum in the world.

Silly putty
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Silly Putty

Inventor: James Wright
Year: 1943
What Happened: During the war years, the General Electric engineer combined silicone oil and boric acid in an attempt to find a cheap alternative to rubber for tank treads, boots, etc.
Big Discovery: It didn’t work. But the scientists had a blast bouncing and stretching his mistake, when they weren’t using it to transfer comics onto paper.
As a Result: Kids had a blast playing with the Silly Putty too. These are the 13 hilarious inventions that epically failed.

accidental discoveries put to good use botox
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Botox

Inventors: Alastair and Jean Carruthers
Year: 1987
What Happened: The couple were using small doses of a deadly toxin to treat ‘crossed eyes’ eyelid spasms and other eye-muscle disorders when they noticed an interesting side effect.
Big Discovery: Wrinkles magically disappeared.
As a Result: The expressionless face became the ‘it’ look, thanks to Botox. Read up on these amazing facts you haven’t heard before.

Glass of brandy on an old wooden barrel
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Brandy

Inventor: A Dutch shipmaster
Year: 16th century
What Happened: He used heat to concentrate wine in order to make it easier to transport, with the idea of adding water to reconstitute it when he arrived.
Big Discovery: Concentrated wine is better than watered-down wine.
As a Result: ‘Burnt wine,’ or ‘brandewijn’ in Dutch, became a big hit. Call it brandy, since after a few drinks of the stuff, there’s no way you can pronounce brandewijn so a bartender can understand what you’re ordering. Check out these inventions that have changed the world in the last decade.

accidental discoveries put to good use mauve
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Mauve!

Inventor: William Perkin
Year: 1856
What Happened: He was intent on discovering a cure for one of the deadliest diseases in the world, malaria.
Big Discovery: While trying to replicate the malaria fighter quinine in his laboratory, Perkin inadvertently discovered the color mauve instead.
As a Result: Perkin forgot about malaria and made a mint establishing the synthetic dye industry. Next, read up on these inventors who majorly regretted their inventions.

Reader's Digest
Originally Published in Reader's Digest

Andy Simmons
Andy is a longtime editor at Reader’s Digest, where he’s edited and reported on national interest, dramas and humor. He is the author of Now That’s Funny! featuring his most popular, funniest writings on all things America, some exclusive and all-new, some taken from the award-winning pages of Reader’s Digest. He also wrote That Reminds Me of a Joke ..., a collection of gags and hilarious true stories taken from the news. In a past life, Andy graduated from Kenyon College and was an editor at National Lampoon Magazine.