Rajitha ranasinghe / flickr
Some of the most important scientific discoveries in history were totally made by accident, such as X-rays or penicillin.
Throughout the history of science, some of the most revolutionary inventions and discoveries happened by mere chance.
Misconceptions, distractions and simple curiosities led scientists to turn errors into innovations that shaped modern life, refers to.
Penicillin
One of the most emblematic examples is penicillin, discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928, when Left a Bacteria Plate out in the laboratory by accident.
When he returned, he saw that the fungus that grew there, called Penicillium markedhe had killed the bacteria, giving rise to the first antibiotic in history and starting a new era in medicine.
Microwave
Another casual discovery was that of the microwave. In 1945, engineer Percy Spencer noted that a chocolate bar in your pocket melted while working with radars.
The scientist decided to experiment with other foods and confirmed his theory that the microwaves generated by the Food could warm. Observation led to the creation of one of the most common appliances today.
Teflon
The chemist Roy Plunkett, in 1938, found accidentally, while working with soda gases, a Material with unique properties which was very slippery and with high heat resistance. Thus was born Teflon, the nonstick material used in kitchen utensils and even space missions.
Saccharin
Sacarin was discovered in 1879 when chemist Constantin Fahlberg forgot to wash his hands after leaving the laboratory. When he went to eat later, he noticed that the Bread had a strangely sweet taste.
Intrigued, Fahlberg found that the responsible substance was Sacarina, a compound with which he worked and Quese made the first artificial sweetener in the world.
Safety glass
The safety glass originated in a laboratory accident in 1903, when Édouard Bénédictus dropped a bottle that, being coated with cellulose nitrate, did not shattered.
This discovery led to the creation of the material that is now Used on the windshield and impact -resistant windows.
Background
In 1964, physicists Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson detected a strange noise in their radio antenna. It was the background radiation of the universe, o “eco” do Big Bang.
This discovery of microwave background radiation, the remnant of Big Bang, confirmed this the theory about the origin of the cosmos.
Velcro
Nature also inspired innovations, such as Velcro, invented after engineer George de Mestral get angry at the way the seeds Bardana were holding to the clothes.
This daily irritation led to the fact that the tiny seeds of the seeds were attached to the textile fibers, which led him to invent the velcro.
Pacemaker
Other advances came from technical errors, such as Pacemaker, created from a resistance poorly placed by Wilson Greatbachwho was trying to create a device to record heartbeat.
Without realizing it, Greatbach inserted wrong resistance on the device, which led to the beginning of Emit rhythmic electrical impulses. Thus was born Pacemaker, a device that has already saved the lives of numerous patients with heart problems.
LSD
The hallucinogenic properties of LSD were discovered by mascara when the Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann accidentally summarized LSD-25 and absorbed a small amount of substance through your skin.
The scientist was scared when he began to hallucinating, thus finding out that this compound had psychoadelical properties.
X-rays
Finally, the X -rays were revealed by Wilhelm Röntgen in 1895, realizing that a screen shone without apparent explanation while experimenting with experiments with Cathode raios tubesgiving rise to modern medical imaging.
These findings remind us that it is often in error that science finds its greatest hits.
