5 Accidental Scientific Discoveries That Changed The World

 Science  

Sometimes a scientist starts out trying to solve one problem, only to find that they have stumbled upon something else entirely — something that will change the world.

Major scientific discoveries have long been a product of accidents. As the script often goes, a scientist or engineer starts out with a focus on solving one problem, only to find that they have stumbled upon a new product that shapes or even creates completely new industries, and goes on to affect our lives in ways nobody could have anticipated.

Viagra

In the early 1990s, Pfizer developed Sildenafil. It hoped that Sildenafil would help thin the blood, and provide relief to angina and high blood pressure sufferers. Yet clinical trials soon revealed that while Sildenafil did little to help angina, it had one chief side effect with benefits for an entirely different problem. Pfizer quickly changed its marketing focus, and Sildenafil became what we know as Viagra.

Clothing Dye

In 1856, William Henry Perkin, at the tender age of 18, worked hard as an assistant to create a synthetic cure for malaria. What he created instead, and had the ingenuity to recognize, was the world's first synthetic clothing dye. The dye was the color we now as mauve. Perkin was so quick to capitalize on his invention and network within the textile industry, that the late 1800s became known as the "mauve decade," due to the popularity of mauve-dyed fashions.

X-Rays

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The discovery of X-rays was the accidental result of Wilhelm Röntgen's unrelated tinkering with cathode ray tubes, from which he noticed a strange, fluorescent glow. Unsure of what else to call his new discovery, Röntgen settled on "X" rays. Further discoveries were to follow, including the revelation that X-rays could penetrate human tissue, thanks to the first "X-ray" and an image of the bones in Röntgen's wife's hand, complete with wedding ring.

Radioactivity

Following in Röntgen's footsteps, Antoine Henri Becquerel discovered what we now know as radioactivity. Becquerel left a uranium crystal out in a box in the sun to test what he first thought were Röntgen's earlier X-rays, and the effect of sunlight on phosphorescence. What he was alarmed to find instead was a photographic "imprint" of the crystal on the box, caused by a scientifically distinguishable, new form of radiation--one that could be deflected and contained with magnetic waves. This established not just our earliest framework for understanding radiation, but for safely controlling and harnessing it as well.

Penicillin

Perhaps the grandaddy of all unintended science was penicillin. Many are aware of the general story of penicillin, but few know the disgusting details: Alexander Fleming (pictured at top) was long the bane of any cleanroom builder of his era, and of hygienic scientific testing protocols in general. History indeed views Fleming as equal parts brilliant and gross in his lab. In 1928, Fleming brought food into the lab, and did not wash the leftover dishes. Then, he went on vacation for a month, and returned to find mold everywhere. An inquisitive scientific mind, Fleming examined it under a microscope, and found that the mold had killed surrounding bacteria. In this utterly accidental way, Fleming made one of the most important scientific discoveries of the modern era.


Truly, the world would have been a dramatically different place if not for these unintentional breakthroughs, all of which laid the groundwork for valuable new scientific and commercial applications.

Top Image - Wikipedia Commons

By Samantha Stainsburry

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