Oops… Lucky Me! 10 Accidental Product Discoveries
by Think about how lucky we are to have some of these “accidents.” These products are still available on the market today.
If it weren’t for luck, or lucky accidents, none of these products would exist today. The following ten products were all discovered as a result of pure accidents. Where would we be today without some of these great products?
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Potato Chips – Discovered: Saratoga Springs, New York
Chef George Crum made the interesting discovery of potato chips after a customer complained to him about his potato fries being cut way too thick. Being a wise guy he sliced a potato paper thin and then fried it to a crisp. The diner loved it, thus creating the world’s very first potato chip.
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Viagra – Discovered: Merthyr Tydfil, Wales
Viagra was discovered by men who were being treated with an erectile dysfunction. It was first discovered in the town of Merthyr Tydfil with the trial medicines they thought could cure the dysfunction. It has since become well known as Viagra, and is used as a male enhancement.
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Silly Putty – Discovered: New York
Silly Putty was discovered in the 1940s by a general electric scientist named James Wright while he was trying to create a synthetic rubber to use for the war. He mixed boric acid and silicon oil and got Silly Putty. Since then it has become one of the world’s most popular toys. One favorite past time includes sticking it on a newspaper and pulling it off to reveal the imprint of the comic.
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LSD – Discovered: Switzerland
LSD was discovered by a Swiss chemist named Albert Hoffman. It was the world’s first acid hit. The year was 1943, and he had been working with a chemical called lysergic acid diethylamide. The initial reason for his research was related to childbirth. After the first try he attempted even a larger dose of it and made another discovery, the bad trip.
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Microwave Ovens – Discovered: Massachusetts
Microwave Ovens were discovered in 1946 when a magnetron melted a candy bar in Raytheon engineer Percy Spencer’s pocket. Microwave emitters powered the Allies radar in WWII.
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Penicillin – Discovered: Scotland
A Scottish scientist named Alexander Fleming was looking into a cure for the flu in 1928 when he noticed that a blue-green mold had infected one of his Petri dishes, and it had killed the staphylococcus bacteria that had been growing in it. The world’s most effective cure was actually discovered due to a contamination in the lab. What a unique coincidence!
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X-Rays – Discovered: Germany
X-rays were discovered in the 19th century by several scientists toying with penetrating rays that were emitted when electrons struck a metal target. It wasn’t fully workable until 1895 when a German scientist named Wilhelm Röntgen tried sticking different objects in front of the radiation and saw the bones on his hand projected onto the wall behind him.
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Artificial Sweeteners – Discovered: Illinois; Maryland; Nebraska
Artificial sweeteners were discovered in much the same way as penicillin. Three of them, Saccharin, Cyclamate, and Aspartame were all discovered in a one hundred year time period, and all by scientists who forgot to wash their hands after an experiment.
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Brandy – Discovered: The Seven Seas
Brandy was created by wine merchants during the medieval time period by boiling the water out of wine so that their cargo would stay fresh and take up less space when being shipped. After a while it was decided to skip the reconstitution stage altogether and brandy was accidentally created .
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Vulcanized Rubber – Discovered: New York
When rubber rots, it smells horrible unless it is vulcanized. The ancient Mesoamericans actually had their own variation of the process Charles Goodyear discovered in 1839. He accidentally dropped some rubber-sulfur compound onto a hot stove, creating the first vulcanized rubber.
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Post CommentGail Nobles
On January 12, 2008 at 1:12 pm
I remember Silly Putty. Thanks for sharing that. Do you remember Stretch Armstrong?
Dee Huff
On January 12, 2008 at 1:28 pm
A good list, and mostly surprising!
Jared Stenzel
On January 12, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Actually I don’t remember Stretch Armstrong? I’m assuming it was similar to silly putty?
b. radley
On January 12, 2008 at 4:54 pm
great list..very informative…thanks.
Jared Stenzel
On January 12, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Obviously there are many different thoughts on how it was accidentally discovered. Both of you claim a different way than I stated. Baldness, heart medication, and ed. I guess I may be wrong, but my research showed what I wrote. Anyways I’m not saying you’re wrong, just that there are many “supposed” theories out there.
Judy Sheldon-Walker
On January 12, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Jared, good job coming up with surprising inventions. Viagara was used for heart medication as it is an alpha blocker, that does not mean it was not discovered accidentally for male enhancement, as you stated. I am sure it was quite an accident when it was discovered.
In one of my spice articles, during research, I found that certain aromatic spices (cinnamon) caused erections. I’m sure cinnamon buns were’nt baked for that effect. lol. hmmm
Thank you Jared, for an interesting article.
Anne Lyken-Garner
On January 13, 2008 at 9:37 am
This is a very interesting article Jared, I’ve actually been to Merthyr Tydfil in Wales which is not far from where I live.
You’ll be pleased to know that there were many smiling wives there.
(I’m only kidding about the last part). Thanks for the research.
Alexa Gates
On January 13, 2008 at 9:42 am
I never knew that half of those were created by accident. I knew penicillin and silly putty, but none of that! Great article I really enjoyed it
Nelson Doyle
On January 13, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Hi Jared -
I also find this article to be quite interesting, because of my professional career as an inventor and I have studied most of what you have listed here in this article. It is always interesting to learn about inventions that I did not know about already, though.
Another product that was discovered by accident was the glue that is used to make 3M sticky notes. I forgot the scientific name for the glue, but I do know it was an accidental discovery. Another accident was the novelty toy called “The Wacky Wall Walker”. The inventor that produced the Wacky Wall Walker had received the material used for the product in a shipping carton as it served a different purpose, but his child was playing with the sticky material and tossed it against the wall and it did not just fall to the ground, but more less crawled down the wall. Her father who is known in the toy industry as Dr. Fad, added the arms and produced the product in several different colors.
His first really big break came with the product after McDonald’s ordered several million Wacky Wall Walkers to put in their Happy Meals. The break that followed was Kellogg’s Cereal Brands and the toy was added as a toy surprise in boxes of cereal. Dr. Fad become a multi-millionaire off of the discovery.
Nelson Doyle
Ruby Hawk
On January 13, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Its interesting to see accidents happen that change things for the good of all. Some mistakes can be happy accidents.
Andrew Sean Murphy
On January 14, 2008 at 5:09 am
Very interesting article. I liked the way you summarized the information!
Darlene McFarlane
On January 14, 2008 at 8:28 pm
A very interesting article, Jared. I remember when Silly Putty first came out. I got some for Christmas that year and had hours of fun with it. I hope no one here knows what year Silly Putty was put on the market…it would blow my young 30 something image.
Liane Schmidt
On January 15, 2008 at 12:58 am
Great article Jared! By the way, I wanted to give you a StumbleUpon thumbs up and noticed that the icons are gone from my toolbar…? Does this happen to you – it happened to me once before and I had to re-download the toolbar. It doesn’t seem like this should happen.
Best wishes.
Sincerely,
-Liane Schmidt.
ash
On January 15, 2008 at 1:16 am
Fleming was australian!!! (Aussies are kinda proud of that)
IcyCucky
On January 15, 2008 at 12:24 pm
I have noticed that most of the comments are dated on the 12th, but the article is published today. Must be the relocating…Glad I didn’t miss this one! Great job!
Lucy Lockett
On January 15, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Good list!
CHAN LEE PENG
On January 16, 2008 at 12:13 am
Good post, Jared! Keep it up!
Jai
On January 16, 2008 at 1:31 am
you forgot 3M’s post it. they were trying to develop a new super adhesive and instead developed a substance which sticks to paper but is easily removed…
Chris
On January 16, 2008 at 2:04 am
Flemming was not Australian.
Howard Florey was, and he was the first to be able to produce large quantites of penicilin.
Bill M. Tracer
On January 16, 2008 at 2:36 am
Well done, Jared. I already knew about some of these, but not all. Thanks for the info.
julle
On January 16, 2008 at 3:01 am
You missed one of the best ones, plate glass, was invented by after seeing how grease hardened to a sheet on dishwater that had been left out overnight.
This lead to the float glass technique of making windows.
Jay Bee
On January 16, 2008 at 3:04 am
Nice article, but that picture of silly putty is slime. While yet another great kids toy, it is still not silly putty. It is pink and in a small container, but that is still only slime , which I don’t think was created by accident. I rmember my first container of slime had fake little maggots in it. I hated it!
Joe S
On January 16, 2008 at 3:46 am
Penicillin was not discovered by accident.
And it was not Fleming that “re”discovered it.
Google Ernest Duchesne.
rajesh barde
On January 16, 2008 at 3:47 am
Accidental inventions are a gift to mankind unless it is used for wrong purpose.
Steadyt
On January 16, 2008 at 4:46 am
Not forgetting Velcro! Inventor was trying to get the fuzzy bits out of his dog’s fur after a walk in the woods. Frustration turned to invention.
Me
On January 16, 2008 at 5:47 am
Add LCD glass to the list. A Corning, Inc. scientist invented it at least 40 years before there was a use found for it.
Tarragon
On January 16, 2008 at 6:38 am
Ernest Duchesne was French and found Penicillin in 1896 in Lyon France.
Based on watching Arabian stable boys use mould to relieve saddle sores on horses.
Sir Alexander Fleming was Scottish and rediscovered Penicillin in 1928 at St Mary\’s Hospital, London.
Howard Walter Florey was Australian, with Ernst Boris Chain (German) and Norman George Heatley (English) at Oxford University, England manufactured, tested and developed for production in USA the Penicillin we use today. Florey, Chain and Fleming share the Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine 1945
jimmy
On January 16, 2008 at 7:16 am
ice-cream to
M W Grossmann
On January 16, 2008 at 7:51 am
Number 5 is also wrong. In 1941 MIT Rad Lab scientists trying to work with 1cm radar had problems due to water vapour, something earlier theorised by H. Van Vleck. This led to a lot of off-shoot fields and technologies but the branch which led to the microwave oven was Perry Spencer (working at the time for Raytheon) standing in front of a magnetron and noticing both a general warmth and that the candy bar in his pocket began to melt. He then tested popcorn kernels directly under a magnetron. That was in late 1945. (Source: “The Invention that Changed the World”, Robert Buderi, ©1996 Simon & Schuster; ISBN 0-684-81021-2)
Wendy
On January 16, 2008 at 8:01 am
Just so you know Stretch Armstrong was toy wrestler(I could be wrong on the wrestler part) You could pull his arm and legs and twist them about.
Great article
WRF
On January 16, 2008 at 9:49 am
The vulcanized rubber story is misleading. Altho the specific discovery was as surprise, it occurred in the process of a long and systematic search for a rubber preservative. IIRC, Goodyear bankrupted himself searching.
It’s also been noted that one has to be prepared to recognize something new. For example, Edison didn’t understand the significance of the Edison effect that see discovered, since he knew no theory, and so missed discovering the vacuum tube.
Nice List
On January 16, 2008 at 10:06 am
silfenadil, what we know as viagra, was actually being used to treat chronic heart disease. Its uses to treat ED were discovered during the questioning of male patients after its first clinical trial and so secondary use papers were filed with the FDA. This can be verified simply by looking at the FDA filings. There are many other drugs that work like viagra that were probably discovered by accident in different ways and at different.
Thunder7
On January 16, 2008 at 10:17 am
I too give you a “Stumbleupon” Thumbs UP”
(NUMBER #7) {X-Rays – Discovered: Germany
It wasn’t fully workable until 1895 when a German scientist named Wilhelm Röntgen tried sticking different objects in front of the radiation and saw the bones on his hand projected onto the wall behind him}.
If you check,..Nikola Tesla Holds the Patent
twriter
On January 16, 2008 at 10:46 am
My favorite accidental discovery story is the Polaroid process. It was originally created as an accident by a researcher for Agfa in Germany. She had developed a B&W photo and after taking it from the developer she decided she didn’t like the exposure and threw it in the garbage without putting it through the stop bath or fixer. In the garbage was an unused sheet of photo paper. The wet picture stuck to the unused sheet emulsion side to emulsion side. The image transferred (and reversed tonalities) to the unused sheet. The researcher noted this in her log book but didn’t take it any further. This happened either just before WWII or in the early days. After WWII the US got many of the patents and research from German firms as the spoils of war, including research from Agfa.
When Edwin Land was researching for a way to create instant photos he read through the Agfa research and found the above story. He perfected the process (called Diffusion Transfer Reversal) and dubbed it Polaroid.
IdeoPraxist
On January 16, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Where is Velcro, popcorn, soap and non-natural glass? You missed a ton of “oops” discoveries.
Peter Martinson
On January 16, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Fleming, a Scotsman, discovered penicillin in Montreal, I thought.
Sinbad.
On January 16, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Aw yes, the wonderful wonderful potato chip! Bravo to that finding! http://arbonne.cosmetics-4me.info has some products made out of potato chips!!!
Mark
On January 16, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Viagra is used to treat erectile dysfunction, not for male enhancement.
Francie
On January 17, 2008 at 12:53 am
Well Jared,
You have composed quite the article here!! Very interesting
and a huge draw
someone
On January 19, 2008 at 8:36 am
nice one!
M.C. Johnson
On January 19, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Great Article!
Fred
On January 19, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Yeah, #7 is wrong…
Actually the swedish (and I also believe that norweigan and danish has the same) word for X-ray is “Röntgen”, of course, after Wilhelm Röntgen…
MT Bargeman
On January 20, 2008 at 3:10 am
I’m going to Digg this, Jared. This took a good bit of research, and was pretty neat!
Mary
Geordie Janner
On January 20, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Another top class article. Cheers for an interesting read.
Johnny de Haan (Toronto)
On January 21, 2008 at 7:40 pm
You can add minoxidil (Rogaine) to that list
Was originally a heart drug, suddenly patients started growing hair
Blargh
On January 21, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Viagra was first used as heart dysfuncional drug.
After the first tests with senior patients, they say that there was an increase of sexual activities amongst the treated patients.
Upon study, they discovered that it gave seniors erection after taking the drug.
Meg
On January 22, 2008 at 12:12 am
How does your description make Viagra an accidental discovery, if that’s what it was originally being used for? A few people here said that it was used for heart disease, which makes more sense for this list.
Tom
On January 22, 2008 at 2:41 am
The therapeutic dose of penicillin was unknown when it was first used experimentally, so they recovered it from the urine of the patient and sent it back through. Or so I have been told.
M W Grossmann
On January 22, 2008 at 8:15 am
I see you changed the microwave entry. Nice of you to give me credit. It’s still wrong since “microwave ovens” weren’t discovered but rather *developed* after determining that microwaves would cause both water and fat molecules to vibrate.
Texan In Hippieland
On January 22, 2008 at 1:29 pm
I believe that the adhesive used on Post-It notes was also an accident by the scientists at 3M. My understanding is that they were trying to create a Super-Adhesive which failed. The result was an adhesive that allowed paper to be removed and re-affixed over and over.
Joe Poniatowski
On January 22, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Very informative, and the pix kept it interesting. Even the commentary makes for good reading – if nothing else, you’ve given a lot of people something to talk (read “debate”) about! I’m giving this a ‘thumbs-up’ as well.
Sebastien Deshaies
On January 22, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Viagra (from Wikipedia):
It was initially studied for use in hypertension (high blood pressure) and angina pectoris (a form of ischaemic cardiovascular disease). Phase I clinical trials under the direction of Ian Osterloh suggested that the drug had little effect on angina, but that it could induce marked penile erections.[1][2] Pfizer therefore decided to market it for erectile dysfunction, rather than for angina.
Jennifer Young
On January 23, 2008 at 9:52 am
Very interesting article. Fun to read!!!
Oscar Zoraster
On January 24, 2008 at 4:45 pm
GUNPOWDER discovered by accident
Gunpowder dates back to the ninth century, when Chinese alchemists searching for an elixir of immortality were dismayed to find that a mixture of saltpeter (potassium nitrate), honey, sulfur, and arsenic sulfide erupted in smoke and flame. A modified version of this curious concoction soon found use as a magician’s trick. It wasn’t until the early-11th century that the Chinese began to find military purposes for gunpowder, using it to make incendiary and smoke bombs. But by the 13th and 14th centuries, the Chinese were wielding cannons and guns that harnessed the explosive power of gunpowder to hurl projectiles at enemy forces. http://pubs.acs.org/cen/books/83/8303books1.html
N - O - N - E
On January 25, 2008 at 4:18 pm
it was ok.7 1/4 of 10
Sojourner
On January 30, 2008 at 1:26 am
Initially the biochemical concept of Viagra war conjured up to reduce hypertension- but, a better use was discovered
Solder
On February 1, 2008 at 5:42 am
Thats not true Peniciline was inventet by Prof. Pencil from Romania
# 61 by shreyas,5 feb 2008
On February 5, 2008 at 6:08 am
excellent article mama
DerSoda
On February 18, 2008 at 3:31 pm
My dog is called Timmy Lui! Wow, real funny, isnt it?
BreathingEasy
On February 23, 2008 at 11:01 pm
And the ionizing, ozone generating air purifier was discovered in Blaine, Minnesota in 1986. Guess who manufacturers the more researched and developed model today called the “Fresh Air Purifier”?
Ruby Hawk
On June 27, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Lets hope we have many more happy accidents.
MindIt
On June 30, 2008 at 12:01 am
Very interesting info.
neelam pandey
On July 11, 2008 at 2:58 pm
awesome article…the photos have added to its interest
Dieter Hentz
On November 11, 2008 at 1:19 pm
nice stories
yeye
On July 3, 2009 at 1:32 pm
There is no Dr. Pencil in Romania (not even a romanian name:)) )…Penicilin was invented in England by John Scott Burdon-Sanderson in 1870- but it was not purified enough for normal use, so Fleming just made it usable!
laith hijazi
On November 22, 2011 at 1:25 pm
good article but i am not rellay sure that x ray is 1