Accidental Inventions

Accidental discoveries in whatever forms have always managed to turn heads, not least because these serendipitous moments truly have the power to alter history. What's worth pointing out here, though, is just how much "serendipity" is there in these discoveries? Not much, it turns out. Louis Pasteur certainly got it right when he said that "Fortune favors the prepared mind." Indeed! By and far, fortune also seems to have a penchant for those who "capitalize" on mistakes.

Popsicles

In 1905, 11-year old Frank Epperson tried making soda pop, then a popular drink, by mixing soda water powder and water. Accidentally, he left the soda out on his porch all night. Temperatures dropped so low that the next day, young Epperson found his soda pop had frozen with the stirring stick in it! He didn't know it then, but he had accidentally concocted the very first popsicle! It wasn't until 18 years later, in 1923, that Epperson remembered his invention, applied for a patent and started selling "
Eppsicle" ice pops iin different fruit flavors. Later on, his kids started referring to it as the "Popsicle" and ever since, it's been hard to resist the refreshing allure of this tangy summer treat!

Pacemakers

One thing you have to know about resistors is that these tiny, millimeter-scale cylinders used to control electric current are marked by a unique series of little colored bands. Now whoever thought that a tiny stripe could make all the difference? Certainly not Wilson Greatbatch, who was an assistant professor of engineering at the University of Buffalo during the 1950s. At that time, Greatbatch was working with some cardiologists on a way to record heart sounds when he reached out for a 10,000-ohm resistor-brown-black-orange. Unknowingly, he grabbed a brown-black-green resistor instead-about 100 times stronger than what he needed-and plugged it into the circuit. The circuit suddenly pulsed for 1.8 milliseconds, stopped and repeated itself again. It was certainly no good for measuring heart sounds, but great for making heartbeats. "With the pacemaker", Greatbatch beams, "Grandpa could be in the mainstream again."

Saran Wrap

In 1933, Ralph Wiley, a college student who cleaned glassware for Dow Chemical Co., stumbled across a vial that he couldn't clean. He called the deposited substance "eonite", after an indestructible material in the comics Little Orphan Annie. Researchers are Dow then developed the "eonite" into a greasy, green film called "Saran". Initially, Saran was sprayed on fighter jets as a measure against salty sea spray and carmakers used it on upholstery. Subsequently, Dow refined the Saran into a transparent, odorless film later marketed as a food wrap. Today, polyvinylidene chlorine, or cling wrap, has revolutionized the food packaging industry and many a modern kitchen, efficiently protecting food against oxygen, water, acids, bases, and many solvents.

Artificial Sweeteners

In 1879, Constantine Fahlberg went to Johns Hopkins University upon an invitation by then renowned chemist Ira Remsen. One day, Fahlberg left Remsen's lab and proceeded to eat dinner without washing his hands-ironically, a definite no-no when it comes to laboratory safety ethics. As he ate, he noticed that his food was unusually sweet and after some investigation, he was able to trace the sweetness back to the compound he had handled earlier in the lab. While working on an experiment on coal tar derivatives, and at Remsen's suggestion, Fahlberg oxidized a sample of orthotoluene sulfamide and came up with an orthobenzoyl sulfimide. He called this substance "saccharin", after the Latin word for sugar, saccharum, and went on to patent and manufacture saccharin as a sugar substitute. Today, it is most popularly found in Sweet 'n' Low and many diet sodas owing to its long shelf life and zero caloric content, despite the many controversies surrounding its consumption after studies pinned it as a possible carcinogen.

Microwave Oven

Percy Spencer was already an established name in the business of electronics inventions by the end of World War 2, and rightly so. He obtained more than a hundred patents in his lifetime, but arguably his most popular invention came about with some fortuitous luck and quick thinking. One day, while making rounds in his laboratory, he came upon a magnetron, which was a vacuum tube that he was testing out. Suddenly, he felt the candy bar in his pocket melt. Out of a stroke of curiosity, he asked for some unpopped corn kernels-not for snacking on, apparently-and to his surprise, the kernels starting sputtering popcorn all over! To further test this new discovery, he put an egg near the magnetron the next day and in fascination, he watched as the egg trembled harder and harder until it finally cracked and spewed yolk all over! Thus, the microwave was born!

The first microwave ovens were industrial-sized, 6-foot, 750-lb monster contraptions. They were initially used in railroad cars and big restaurants for reheating large quantities of food. Eventually, technology worked to our favor and today, the microwave oven is an indispensable tool in many modern kitchens, bringing warm meals to the dinner table in a jiffy.