Velcro or velcro
In 1941, the Swiss inventor George de Mestral was walking his dog. When they returned home, it turned out that George's coat, like the dog's coat, was covered with burdock. Having examined the burdock under a microscope, George examined the hooks with which the plant was attached to the dog's fur just not “tightly.” He himself made two ribbons with the same small hooks that would cling to each other - an alternative fastener turned out! But the mass production of "stickies" will come only after 14 years. Astronauts were the first to adopt them - they are buttoned up in spacesuits.
Cellophane
In 1908, Jacques Brandenberger, a Swiss chemist working in the textile industry, tried to create a moisture-proof coating for kitchen tablecloths to protect them from stains. The coating in the form of liquid viscose turned out to be too tough for this purpose, but Jacques felt the potential of this product and suggested using it for packaging products. But it took him another 10 years to design a cellophane machine.
X-rays or X-Rays
These rays were discovered in 1895 by the physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen. He worked in a darkened room, trying to figure out whether the recently discovered cathode rays (they are still used today - in televisions, in fluorescent lamps, etc.) can pass through a vacuum tube or not. By chance, he noticed that a diffuse greenish cloud had appeared on the chemically cleaned screen several feet away. It was as if a faint flash from an induction coil were reflected in a mirror. For seven weeks he conducted research, practically without leaving the laboratory. It turned out that the cause of the glow is the direct rays emanating from the cathode ray tube, that the radiation gives a shadow, and it cannot be deflected with the help of a magnet - and much more. It also became clear that human bones cast a denser shadow,than the surrounding soft tissue, which is still used in fluoroscopy. And the first X-ray picture appeared in 1895 - it was a picture of Madame Roentgen's hand with a clearly visible golden ring. So for the first time it was men who saw women through and through, and not vice versa.
Promotional video:
Safety glass
Today it is known everywhere, but when the French scientist Edouard Benedictus in 1903, while working in the laboratory, accidentally dropped an empty glass flask on the floor and it did not break, he was very surprised. The walls of the flask, of course, were covered with a network of cracks, but it did not break into pieces. It turned out that before that a collodion solution (a solution of cellulose nitrates in a mixture of ethanol and ethyl ether) was stored in the flask, the solution evaporated, but the walls of the vessel were covered with a thin layer of it. At that time, the automotive industry was developing in France, the windshield was made of ordinary glass - this was the cause of many injuries to drivers. Benidicuts saw real life-saving benefits in using his invention in a car, but automakers found it too expensive to manufacture. And only years later, afterAs WW 1 used triplex as a glass for gas masks, in 1944 Volvo used it in cars.
Penicillin
Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928. He was not actually looking for it at the time, but simply researching the flu. He was not very neat, did not wash laboratory glassware immediately after the experiment, and did not throw out flu cultures for 2-3 weeks in a row, accumulating 30-40 cups on his desk at a time. So, one day he found mold in one of the Petri dishes, which, to his surprise, suppressed a sown culture of staphylococcus bacteria. The mold that the culture was infected with was a very rare species. Most likely, it was brought in from a laboratory located one floor below, where mold samples taken from the homes of patients with bronchial asthma were grown. Fleming left the cup that later became famous on the laboratory table and went to rest. The cold snap in London created favorable conditions for mold growth, and the subsequent warming - for bacteria. As it turned out later, it was precisely these circumstances that owed the famous discovery - and not only of the 20th century - to penicillin, which saved and is still saving the life and health of an incredible number of people. When Fleming died, he was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral in London - next to the most revered British, and in Greece the day of his death was declared national mourning. Paul in London - next to the most revered British, and in Greece, the day of his death was declared national mourning. Paul in London - next to the most revered British, and in Greece, the day of his death was declared national mourning.
Vulcanized rubber
When Columbus first brought rubber balls from the West Indies in 1546, it was like a magical discovery. But this miracle had its drawbacks: the rubber rotted, smelled, was too sticky when warm - and too hard when cold. Therefore, people did not understand at the time where it can be applied. Almost 300 years later - in 1839 - Charles Goodyear solved this problem. In his chemical laboratory, he tried to mix rubber with magnesia, lime, nitric acid - all in vain. The next attempt to mix rubber with sulfur also ended in failure. But, suddenly, quite by accident, these rubber and sulfur were dropped on a hot oven - this is how elastic rubber was obtained, from which balls, galoshes and car tires are now produced.
Popsicle popsicle
Frank Epperson, the inventor of this invention, was only eleven years old when he came up with what some would later call one of the most important inventions of the 20th century. Of course, Lady Luck most likely smiled at this boy when he dissolved soda powder in water - a popular drink of the children of 1905. It didn't work out right away, and Frank, without removing the stirring stick from the glass with the drink, set it aside for a while. The weather was frosty and the mixture froze. Frank laughingly showed his classmates a funny frozen thing on a stick that you could lick with your tongue. Eighteen years later, Frank remembered this funny incident and began to produce the Epsicles ice cream in seven flavors. Today, in America alone, more than three million popsicle are sold annually.
Super glue
Superglue, or Krazy Glue, is a substance actually called "cyanoacrylate (cyanoacrylate)" It was invented by accident dr. Harry Coover, who in the laboratory during World War II (1942) searched for clear plastic for gun scopes. The resulting cyanoacrylate did not solve his problems, since it quickly hardened, glued to anything and spoiled laboratory equipment. But, many years later, in 1958, he realized that his invention could benefit mankind. The most real benefit was the ability to instantly seal the wounds - this saved the lives of many soldiers during the Vietnam War - with the sealed wounds, they could be transported to the hospital. By the way, in 1959, the extraordinary abilities of the glue were demonstrated to America,when the host of the program was lifted into the air with the help of two steel plates, glued together with just a drop of glue. Later, everything was lifted into the air - from TVs to a car (!).
Scotchgard protective material
In 1953, Patsy Sherman, an employee of the same 3M corporation, worked on a rubber material that had to withstand contact with aviation fuel. A sloppy lab technician spilled one of her experimental compounds on her new tennis shoes. She was upset at first because she couldn't clean his shoes off with soap or alcohol, but that failure also inspired Sherman. She set to work and a year later the now well-known Scotchgard product was released on the market, which protects surfaces from contamination - both fabrics and cars.
Sticky notes - post-it notes
In 1970, Spencer Silver, who worked for 3M Corporation (Minnesota, Mining and Manufacturing), tried to develop a super strong adhesive. What he managed to get was the exact opposite: the glue smeared on the surface of the paper, and if it was glued to something, it fell off after a while, leaving no marks on the surface. Four years later, an employee of the same company, Arthur Fry, who sang in the church choir in order to quickly find the desired text, came up with the idea of gluing bookmarks to the book with psalms, smeared with these composition - otherwise they would easily fall out of it. Since 1980 - the beginning of the release of post-it notes - to this day, it is one of the most popular office products.
Raisin buns
It is also worth mentioning here the legend, described by the Moscow expert journalist and writer Vladimir Gilyarovsky, that the famous baker Ivan Filippov invented the raisin bun. Governor-General Arseny Zakrevsky, who somehow bought a fresh cod, suddenly found a cockroach in it. Filippov was summoned to the carpet, grabbed the insect and ate it, saying that the general was mistaken - it was a highlight. Returning to the bakery, Filippov ordered to urgently start baking buns with raisins in order to justify himself before the governor.
Potato chips
Chef George Crum invented the popular snack in 1853. When one of his clients complained that his potatoes were cut too thick, he took the potatoes, cut them into pieces almost as thick as a sheet of paper, and fried them. Thus the chips were born.
Brandy
In the Middle Ages, wine merchants often evaporated the water from the transported drink so that it did not spoil and take up less space. Soon, someone resourceful decided to skip the recovery phase. This is how brandy was born.
Artificial sweeteners
The three most common sugar substitutes were discovered only because scientists forgot to wash their hands. Cyclamate (1937) and aspartame (1965) were a by-product of medical research, and saccharin (1879) was accidentally discovered in the study of coal tar derivatives.
microwaves
Microwave emitters (magnetrons) operated on Allied radars during World War II. New applications were discovered in 1946, when a magnetron melted a chocolate bar in the pocket of Percy Spencer, one of the engineers at the American company Raytheon.
LSD
The Swiss scientist Albert Hofmann became the first person to taste "acid" in 1943. He noticed the effect of lysergic acid diethylamide on himself when he was doing medical research on this substance and its effect on the process of childbirth.
Viagra
As you know, Viagra was originally developed as a remedy for angina. Men all over the world should be grateful to the people of the Welsh city of Merthyr Tydefill. It was here in 1992 that a remarkable side effect of the drug was discovered during trials.
Champagne
The honor of inventing the world's most popular wine, champagne, is credited to the Benedictine monk Pierre Perignon from the Abbey of Hauteville (Champagne, France). But few people know that such a brilliant invention was made almost by accident: at that time, the presence of bubbles in wine was considered a sign of a bad winemaker. As a housekeeper at the abbey and in charge of food supplies and a cellar, Perignon experimented with the production of various wines and tried to create a white wine from red grapes. Red grapes ripened better in Champagne, and white wine was more popular at the court of the French king, and then the monk invented a method of obtaining white juice from red grapes. However, due to the cool climate of the province, the wine had to stretch the fermentation process for two years,which caused gas bubbles to form in the drink, and barrels often exploded. The monk suggested storing wine in the first year in barrels, and in the second year in bottles, thus protecting the wine from “explosion”. For several more years, Pierre Perignon, through experiments, tried to completely get rid of the bubbles, but in vain. Luckily for him (and for us), the new sparkling wine has gained immense popularity at court.
Waffle cone
Before the invention of the waffle cone, ice cream was served on plates or in bowls. The "father" of the ice cream cone was Ernest Humvee, a Syrian, who traded waffles at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. The owner of a nearby booth was selling ice cream, and the product was so popular with visitors that he ran out of plates. Humvee suggested that they join forces and use rolled waffles instead of plates, in which you can put ice cream balls. I liked the novelty, and the agile Syrian created the first company for the production of waffle cones - the Cornucopia Waffle Company.
Rocking chair
American President Benjamin Franklin once saw a baby being rocked in a cradle and turned a regular chair into a rocking chair.
The English have a saying: "He is as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room with five rocking chairs."
Sandwiches
If it weren't for the Earl of Sandwich's passion for gambling, we wouldn't know how to make closed sandwiches. The count categorically did not want to tear herself away from the card table, even for lunch, so the servants brought him sandwiches right into the card room. And they covered them (with a second piece of bread) so that it was convenient to carry and so that the cards did not get dirty.
Discoveries in a dream
It turns out that this is not only the periodic table. Likewise, chemist Kekule, while dozing in an armchair in front of the fireplace in his laboratory, dreamed of the basis of organic chemistry - the benzene ring.
The famous indigo dye used to dye jeans
Also received by accident.
One of the stages of obtaining this dye is the oxidation of naphthalene, so this thing is useful not only for moths. And mercury is also needed - just when the thermometer crashed, chemist Karl Heinmann received the missing link in the indigo synthesis reaction, over which he fought for almost 15 years.
An ordinary domestic cat put its paw to the discovery of iodine: at the plant for the production of nitrate, she accidentally knocked a can of sulfuric acid into a boiler with production waste, and everyone saw a beautiful purple vapor, which then crystallized. This was iodine (the cat, thank God, survived).
Garbage bag
Harry Wasylyk invented the first trash bag in 1950. Vasilyuk was an inventor and engineer, and once the municipality of the city approached him, which set the task: to make sure that household waste does not spill out during the loading of garbage trucks. Vasilyuk thought for a long time about creating a semblance of a vacuum cleaner, but the decision came suddenly. Someone from his friends or family (versions differ) threw the phrase: "I need a garbage bag!" Vasilyuk realized that disposable bags should be used for garbage operations and suggested making them out of polyethylene. The first plastic garbage bags were used by the Winnipeg hospital. The first garbage bags for individuals appeared in the 1960s. Now one of the most important problems that mankind has to solve is waste disposal.
Antibiotics
In 1928, scientist Alexander Fleming noticed that the mold, penicillin, had infected one of his samples with the pathogenic bacteria staphylococcus left by an open window. Fleming examined the sample under a microscope and noticed that the mold was killing bacteria. The importance of Fleming's discovery became clear only in 1940, when the world began mass research of a new type of drugs - antibiotics. Nowadays antibiotics are widely used in medicine; they make up 15% of all drugs sold in the world.
Supermarket trolley
Trader Sylvan Goldman invented the first shopping cart in 1936. Goldman was the owner of a large grocery store in Oklahoma City and noticed that shoppers were reluctant to buy certain items because they were difficult to carry. The discovery was accidental: Goldman noticed how one customer put a heavy bag on a toy car that her son was rolling on a string. The merchant first attached small wheels to an ordinary basket, and then brought in mechanics to help and created a prototype of a modern cart. The mass production of this device began in 1947. The invention of the trolley allowed the creation of a new type of store - a supermarket.
Pacemaker
This device, which has saved the lives of millions of people with heart disease, was invented by accident. In 1941, engineer John Hopps was commissioned by the Navy to conduct research on hypothermia. He was tasked with finding a way to warm up as quickly as possible a person who had been in the cold or cold water for a long time. Hopps tried to use high-frequency radio waves to warm up and accidentally discovered that a heart that had stopped beating as a result of hypothermia could be "restarted" if stimulated with electrical impulses. In 1950, based on Hopps' discovery, the first pacemaker was created. It was large and uncomfortable; its use sometimes led to burns on the patient's body.
Medic Wilson Greatbatch made his second accidental opening. He worked on creating a device that would record heart rate. One day, he accidentally inserted an unsuitable resistor into the device and noticed that oscillations arose in the electrical circuit, reminiscent of the rhythm of the human heart. Two years later, Greatbatch created the first implantable pacemaker that delivers artificial pulses to stimulate the heart.
Coca Cola
In 1886, doctor and pharmacist John Pemberton tried to prepare a potion based on the extract from the leaves of the South American plant coca and African cola nuts, which have tonic properties. Pemberton tasted the ready-made potion and realized that it tasted good. Pemberton believed that this syrup could help people suffering from fatigue, stress and toothache. The pharmacist took the syrup to the largest pharmacy in the city of Atlanta. On the same day, the first portions of syrup were sold, at five cents a glass. However, the Coca-Cola drink came about through negligence. By chance, the seller, diluting the syrup, confused the taps and poured carbonated water instead of ordinary water. The resulting mixture became "Coca-Cola". Initially, this drink was not very successful. Pemberton spent $ 79 in its first year of soda production.96 to advertise a new drink, but was able to sell Coca-Cola for only $ 50. Nowadays Coca-Cola is produced and drunk in 200 countries of the world.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
One of the most popular types of cookies in the United States is chocolate-chip cookies. It was invented in the 1930s when innkeeper Ruth Wakefield decided to bake butter cookies. The woman broke a chocolate bar and mixed the pieces of chocolate with the dough, hoping that the chocolate would melt and give the dough a brown and chocolatey flavor. However, Wakefield let down ignorance of the laws of physics, and from the oven she took out biscuits with pieces of chocolate.
The discovery of America by Christopher Columbus also happened quite by accident. In fact, Columbus was sailing towards Asia …