Scientific discoveries and luck

"If I'm not VERY much mistaken..."

Penicillin was discovered by chance. Some scientists were trying to grow bacteria in petry dishes (or something similar) and the plant that penicillin is derived from was nearby and somehow spores or some crap would float in from the windows and start killing the bacteria. At first the scientists were just pissed that their experiment was getting messed up, but eventually one scientist put 2 and 2 together and started working with it.

Umm, I think Silly Putty was made to be a substitute for rubber. But, then what service does Silly Putty provide?

Uhhhh, Wasn't rubber itself discovered by accident? I don't know the story....

I'll try to think of some more.

 

post-it notes (trying to find an extremely adhesive agent)

teflon (was residue found inside the containers of missile warheads)

birth control pill (trying to trick a pregnant body it was not pregnant - opposite result)

penicillin definitely was an accident

can't remember any more off the top of my head...


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rimbaud post-a-thon 2000

 

Check this site out. It starts with the penicillin story. It has some other stuff too. - Discovery, Chance, and the Scientific Method

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This page is a paper about research and how much chance or luck has to do with it... sorta. - Management of Innovation Essay

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Here's another site to try. - World of Science

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Here's a long ass doctoral thesis on luck, chance, and coincidence. It might have some references to discoveries. - Ethics of Chance

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This site gives many Chemistry examples. And gives a different story on the Teflon discovery. - Chemistry in Action




[This message has been edited by DREAMer (edited May 25, 2000).]

 

Moochie Norris. Signing him was great, I hope he comes back next season.

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THE DEAN HAS WRITTEN

 

Galvani discovered "neurology" or at least an early predecessor of it when he saw frog legs twitching after they had come in contact with metal. The metal was coming into contact with another piece of metal when the wind blew (from what I remember) and causing an electric current to flow throught the frog legs.
The discovery of X-Rays by Rontgen (sp?) was also an accident from what I remember.

I believe a couple of the outer-most planets were discovered by accident. You may want to check out Pluto and Neptune's history. I think Neptune was discovered after someone noticed some irregularities in Uranus' (let's see who makes the first joke about that) orbit. Pluto was discovered after a scientist (Percival Lowell (sp?)) took 2 pictures of the skies, and noticed 1 speck seemed to have moved more than it should have if it were a star (I believe that's how the story went).

Rogaine (known for helping prevent/r****d hairloss, initially started out as medication for heart patients from what I remember)

The "discovery" of America could be classified as luck. Columbus trying to find a quicker route to the India. Of course some may say it can't be luck if there were people already living here at the time.

Saran wrap I believe was an accidental discovery. Can't remember the story behind it, but I believe its original use was in the military.

Teflon was an accidental discovery. See if you can find the story online, I don't remember it, but it had something to do with a guy looking for a new refrigerant or something.

My friend on the phone says that Olestra (a.k.a. Olean, the stuff in those WOW! chips) was discovered by accident. LOL! Scary.

Mark Price was a 2nd round pick that turned out to be a damn good point guard. Does that count?

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The Record Player / Jukebox. Thomas Edison was actually trying to invent an answering machine.

He figured Alexander Grahm Bell's telephone invention would be too expensive for people to own. He thought a neighborhood could have a central telephone which would record a message, which they could pick up later, take home, and play on their record player.

Turns out, the telephones could be produced cheaper, so people did buy them for their homes. Someone thought to record songs on the records, but people thought they were too expensive to buy themselves. They did think record players were cool in businesses though -- they would stand around and pay a nickel to hear their favorite song.

Edison was very disapointed.


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Stay Cool...

 

Frozen Foods --

In 1912 a naturalist was on an expedition, and was ice fishing in a remote area. The temperature had dropped to 20 degrees below zero. His fish froze solid almost instantly when he removed them from the water.

When he returned to camp, he tossed the fish in a bucket of water to thaw. To his amazement, some of the fish were revived, and started to swim. He later decided that the fish survived because they were frozen quickly, and reasoned that food could be preserved in the same way.

In 1925 the naturalist, Clarence Birdseye, marketed his first frozen food -- fish.

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Stay Cool...

 

DOD, Every time I hear of Rogaine it reminds me of Malone and I laugh uncontrollably .

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THE DEAN HAS WRITTEN

 

a group of indian shaman were collecting items to put on the fire...one of them put a green herb on the fire along with the clippings and other items..they all sat there and as the teepee got smokey their brains became cloudy and they all felt a euphoric stupor....the next day they reallized they really liked it i mean really liked it so they took each or the items from the fire the night before and set them on fire individually... then breathed the smoke from each...

the green herb that they had in abundance was the one that seemed to produce the feeling from the night before...smoking weed had been invented..

that was a good day....

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i am scottie brooks

 

Velcro was inspired by sticker burrs that stuck to a George DeMestrel's socks. When he examined them under a microscope, he discovered the burrs had hooks, which caught the wool. It occurred to him it might be useful replacement for the zipper -- which at the time had frequent problems with jamming. Laughed at initially, he insisted velcro would be useful to the clothing industry, and convinced some clothing factories to try it out.

When Ben Franklin retired, he found that he had trouble reaching books on higher shelves. He built a stick with a spring loaded claw attachment at the end. Used some for that purpose, but it became very popular as a children's toy.

On the ironic side, Alfred Nobel, known for the Nobel Peace prize and Nobel prizes for excellence in Science, etc., invented dynamite, as a way to make explosives (especially Nitroglycerine) safer to use. He worked for his father during the Crimean War producing war material for Russia. He made several discoveries in the field of explosives, inlcuding blasting gelitin and smokeless blasting powder. He also invented detonators, explosives for artillery and torpedos, and ammunition that was less smokey. When he died he donated most of his fortune to a foundation to give prizes for excellence in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Peace.


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Stay Cool...

 

You are welcome.

I got the first couple from a book a friend got me called "One Night Stands with American History." It has little interesting stories. The last couple came off a website listing of inventors from I think, the Inventor's Hall of Fame. It was fun looking them up. Thank you.

Good luck. I hope you do well.

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Stay Cool...