History shows that some scientific discoveries, including those that turned the world upside down, were made completely by accident.
It is enough to recall Archimedes, who, having immersed himself in a bath, discovered the law, later named after him, about bodies immersed in water and their buoyant force, or Newton, on whom the famous apple fell. And finally, Mendeleev, who saw his table of elements in a dream.
Perhaps some of this is an exaggeration, but there is quite specific examples, showing that in science much depends on chance. Wired magazine collected some of them:

1. Viagra
As you know, Viagra was originally developed as a remedy for sore throats. Men all over the world should be grateful to the residents of the Welsh town of Merthyr Tydfil. It was here that a remarkable side effect of the drug was discovered during trials in 1992.

2.LSD
Swiss scientist Albert Hofmann in 1943 became the first person to try acid. He noticed the effect of lysergic acid diethylamide on himself when he was conducting medical research on this substance and its effect on the process of childbirth.

3. X-ray
In the 19th century, many scientists were interested in the rays that appear as a result of electrons striking a metal target. However, X-ray radiation was discovered by the German scientist Wilhelm Roentgen in 1895. He exposed various objects to this radiation and, while changing them, accidentally saw a projection of the bones of his own hand appear on the wall.

4. Penicillin
Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming studied influenza in 1928. One day he noticed how blue-green mold (natural penicillin is produced by mold fungi) growing in one of the Petri dishes killed all the staphylococci present there.

5. Artificial sweeteners
The three most common sugar substitutes were discovered only because scientists forgot to wash their hands. Cyclamate (1937) and aspartame (1965) were by-products of medical research, and saccharin (1879) was accidentally discovered during research on coal tar derivatives.

6. Microwave ovens
Microwave emitters (magnetrons) powered Allied radar during World War II. New application possibilities 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.

7. Brandy
In the Middle Ages, wine merchants often evaporated the water from the transported drink so that it did not spoil and took up less space. Soon, someone resourceful decided to do without the recovery phase. Thus brandy was born.

8. Vulcanized rubber
Unvulcanized rubber is very unstable to external influences and smells bad. Charles Goodyear, after whom the Goodyear company was named, discovered the vulcanization process when he accidentally placed a mixture of rubber and sulfur on a hot plate.

9. Potato chips
Chef George Crum invented the popular snack in 1853. When one of his customers 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. This is how chips were born.

10. Raisin buns
It is also worth mentioning here the legend described by Moscow expert journalist and writer Vladimir Gilyarovsky, that the raisin bun was invented by the famous baker Ivan Filippov. Governor General Arseny Zakrevsky, who once bought a fresh cod, suddenly discovered a cockroach in it. Filippov, called to the carpet, grabbed the insect and ate it, declaring that the general was mistaken - this was the highlight. Returning to the bakery, Filippov ordered an urgent start to baking raisin buns in order to justify himself to the governor.

History shows that some scientific discoveries, including those that turned the world upside down, were made completely by accident. It is enough to recall Archimedes, who, having immersed himself in a bath, discovered the law, later named after him, about bodies immersed in water and their buoyant force, or Newton, on whom the famous apple fell. And finally, Mendeleev, who saw his table of elements in a dream. Perhaps some of this is an exaggeration, but there are very specific examples showing that in science, too, much depends on chance. Wired magazine collected some of them.

1. Viagra.

As you know, Viagra was originally developed as a remedy for sore throats. Men all over the world should be grateful to the residents of the Welsh town of Merthyr Tydfil. It was here that a remarkable side effect of the drug was discovered during trials in 1992.

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 conducting medical research on this substance and its effect on the process of childbirth.

3. X-ray.

In the 19th century, many scientists were interested in the rays that appear as a result of electrons striking a metal target. However, X-ray radiation was discovered by the German scientist Wilhelm Roentgen in 1895. He exposed various objects to this radiation and, while changing them, accidentally saw a projection of the bones of his own hand appear on the wall.

4. Penicillin.

Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming studied influenza in 1928. One day he noticed how blue-green mold (natural penicillin is produced by mold fungi) growing in one of the Petri dishes killed all the staphylococci present there.

5. Artificial sweeteners.
The three most common sugar substitutes were discovered only because scientists forgot to wash their hands. Cyclamate (1937) and aspartame (1965) were by-products of medical research, and saccharin (1879) was accidentally discovered during research on coal tar derivatives.

6. Microwaves.
Microwave emitters (magnetrons) powered Allied radar 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.

7. Brandy.
In the Middle Ages, wine merchants often evaporated the water from the transported drink so that it did not spoil and took up less space. Soon, someone resourceful decided to do without the recovery phase. Thus brandy was born.

8. Vulcanized rubber.
Unvulcanized rubber is very unstable to external influences and smells bad. Charles Goodyear, after whom the Goodyear company was named, discovered the vulcanization process when he accidentally placed a mixture of rubber and sulfur on a hot plate.

9. Potato chips.
Chef George Crum invented the popular snack in 1853. When one of his customers 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. This is how chips were born.

10. Buns with raisins.
It is also worth mentioning here the legend described by Moscow expert journalist and writer Vladimir Gilyarovsky, that the raisin bun was invented by the famous baker Ivan Filippov. Governor General Arseny Zakrevsky, who once bought a fresh cod, suddenly discovered a cockroach in it. Filippov, called to the carpet, grabbed the insect and ate it, declaring that the general was mistaken - this was the highlight. Returning to the bakery, Filippov ordered an urgent start to baking raisin buns in order to justify himself to the governor.

It happens that scientists spend years and even a decade to present a new discovery to the world. However, it also happens differently - inventions appear unexpectedly, as a result of bad experience or simple accident. It's hard to believe, but many devices and drugs that changed the world were invented completely by accident.
I offer the most famous of such accidents.

In 1928, he noticed that one of the plastic plates with pathogenic staphylococcus bacteria in his laboratory was covered with mold. However, Fleming left the laboratory for the weekend without washing dirty dishes. After the weekend he returned to his experiment. He examined the plate under a microscope and found that the mold had destroyed the bacteria. This mold turned out to be the main form of penicillin. This discovery is considered one of the greatest in the history of medicine. The significance of Fleming's discovery became clear only in 1940, when massive research began on a new type of antibiotic drug. Millions of lives were saved thanks to this accidental discovery.

Safety glass
Safety glass is widely used in the automotive and construction industries. Today it is everywhere, but when the French scientist (and artist, composer and writer) Edouard Benedictus accidentally dropped an empty glass flask on the floor in 1903 and it did not break, he was very surprised. As it turned out, before this, a collodion solution 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 automobile industry was rapidly developing in France, and the windshield was made of ordinary glass, which caused many injuries to drivers, which Benedictus drew attention to. He saw real life-saving benefits in using his invention in cars, but automakers found it too expensive to produce. And only years later, when during the Second World War, triplex (this is the name the new glass received) was used as glass for gas masks, in 1944 Volvo used it in cars.

Pacemaker
The pacemaker, which now saves thousands of lives, was invented by mistake. Engineer Wilson Greatbatch worked on creating a device that was supposed to record heart rhythm.
One day he inserted the wrong transistor into the device and discovered that electrical circuit fluctuations arose that are similar to the correct rhythm of the human heart. Soon the scientist created the first implantable pacemaker - a device that supplies artificial impulses for the heart to work.

Radioactivity
Radioactivity was discovered by accident by the scientist Henri Becquerel.
It was in 186, when Becquerel was working on a study of the phosphorescence of uranium salts and the newly discovered x-rays. He conducted a series of experiments to determine whether fluorescent minerals could produce radiation when exposed to sunlight. The scientist faced a problem - the experiment was carried out in winter, when there was not enough bright sunlight. He wrapped the uranium and photographic plates in one bag and began to wait. sunny day. Returning to work, Becquerel discovered that the uranium had been imprinted on the photographic plate without sunlight. Later, he, together with Marie and Pierre Curie, discovered what is now known as radioactivity, for which, together with the scientific couple, he later received the Nobel Prize.

Microwave
The microwave oven, also known as the “popcorn oven,” was born precisely thanks to a happy coincidence. And it all began - who would have thought! - from a weapons development project.
Percy LeBaron Spencer, a self-taught engineer, developed radar technologies at one of the largest companies in the global military-industrial complex, Raytheon. In 1945, shortly before the end of World War II, he conducted research to improve the quality of radar. During one of the experiments, Spencer discovered that the chocolate bar that was in his pocket had melted. Contrary to common sense, Spencer immediately dismissed the idea that the chocolate could have melted under the influence of body heat - like a true scientist, he seized on the hypothesis that the chocolate was somehow "affected" by the invisible radiation of the magnetron.
Any sane man would have immediately stopped and realized that the “magic” heat rays passed a few centimeters from his dignity. If the military were nearby, they would probably find a worthy use for these “melting rays.” But Spencer thought about something else - he was delighted with his discovery and considered it a real scientific breakthrough.
After a series of experiments, the first water-cooled microwave oven, weighing about 350 kg, was created. It was supposed to be used in restaurants, airplanes and ships - i.e. where it was necessary to quickly heat food.

Vulcanized rubber
It will hardly shock you to learn that rubber for car tires was invented by Charles Goodyear - he became the first inventor whose name was given to the final product.
It was not easy to invent rubber that could withstand the top acceleration and car racing that everyone has dreamed of since the creation of the first car. And in general, Goodyear had every reason to say goodbye forever to the crystal dream of his youth - he kept ending up in prison, lost all his friends and almost starved his own children, tirelessly trying to invent more durable rubber (for him it turned almost into an obsession ).
So, this was in the mid-1830s. After two years of unsuccessful attempts to optimize and strengthen conventional rubber (mixing rubber with magnesia and lime), Goodyear and his family were forced to take refuge in an abandoned factory and fish for food. That's when Goodyear did sensational discovery: he mixed rubber with sulfur and got new rubber! The first 150 bags of rubber were sold to the government and...
Oh yes. The rubber turned out to be of poor quality and completely useless. New technology turned out to be ineffective. Goodyear was ruined - once again!
Finally, in 1839, Goodyear wandered into a general store with another portion failed tires. The people gathered in the store watched the crazy inventor with interest. Then they started laughing. In a rage, Goodyear threw the wad of rubber onto the hot stove.
After carefully examining the burnt remains of rubber, Goodyear realized that he had just - completely by accident - invented a method for producing reliable, elastic, water-resistant rubber. Thus, an entire empire was born from the fire.

Champagne
Many people know that champagne was invented by Dom Pierre Pérignon, but this monk of the Order of St. Benedict, who lived in the 17th century, did not intend to make wine with bubbles, but quite the opposite - he spent years trying to prevent this, since sparkling wine was considered a sure sign poor quality winemaking.
Initially, Perignon wanted to please tastes French court and create a corresponding white wine. Since it was easier to grow dark grapes in Champagne, he came up with a way to extract light juice from them. But since the climate in Champagne is relatively cold, the wine had to ferment for two seasons, spending the second year in the bottle. The result was a wine filled with bubbles carbon dioxide, which Perignon tried to get rid of, but to no avail. Fortunately, the new wine was very popular with the aristocracy of both the French and English courts.

Plastic
In 1907, shellac was used for insulation in the electronics industry. The cost of importing shellac, which was made from Asian beetles, was enormous, so chemist Leo Hendrik Baekeland decided it would be a good idea to invent an alternative to shellac. As a result of experiments, he obtained a plastic material that did not collapse at high temperatures. The scientist thought that the material he invented could be used in the production of phonographs, however, it soon became clear that the material could be used much more widely than expected. Today, plastic is used in all areas of industry.

Saccharin
Saccharin, a sugar substitute known to everyone who is losing weight, was invented due to the fact that chemist Konstantin Fahlberg did not have useful habit wash your hands before eating.
It was 1879, when Fahlberg was working on new ways to use coal tar. Having finished his work day, the scientist came home and sat down to dinner. The food seemed sweet to him, and the chemist asked his wife why she added sugar to the food. However, my wife did not find the food sweet. Fahlberg realized that it was not the food that was actually sweet, but his hands, which he, as always, did not wash before dinner. The next day, the scientist returned to work, continued his research, and then patented a method for producing an artificial low-calorie sweetener and began its production.

Teflon
Teflon, which has made the lives of housewives around the world easier, was also invented by accident. DuPont chemist Roy Plunkett studied the properties of freon and froze tetrafluoroethylene gas for one of his experiments. After freezing, the scientist opened the container and discovered that the gas had disappeared! Plunkett shook the canister and looked into it - there he found white powder. Fortunately for those who have made an omelette at least once in their lives, the scientist became interested in the powder and continued to study it. As a result, Teflon was invented, without which it is impossible to imagine a modern kitchen.

Ice cream cones
This story may serve as a perfect example of a chance invention and a chance meeting that had a widespread impact. And it's also quite tasty.
Until 1904, ice cream was served on saucers, and it wasn't until that year's World's Fair, held in St. Louis, Missouri, that two seemingly unrelated food product, turned out to be inextricably linked.
At that particularly hot and muggy World's Fair of 1904, the ice cream stand was doing so well that it quickly ran out of saucers. The stall next door selling Zalabiya, thin waffles from Persia, wasn't doing very well, so its owner came up with the idea of ​​rolling the waffles into a cone and putting ice cream on top. That’s how ice cream in a waffle cone was born, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to die in the near future.

Synthetic dyes
It sounds strange, but it is a fact - synthetic dye was invented as a result of an attempt to invent a cure for malaria.
In 1856, chemist William Perkin worked to create artificial quinine to treat malaria. He did not invent a new cure for malaria, but he received a thick dark mass. Taking a closer look at this mass, Perkin discovered that it gave off a very beautiful color. This is how he invented the first chemical dye.
Its dye turned out to be much better than any natural dye: firstly, its color was much brighter, and secondly, it did not fade or wash off. Perkin's discovery turned chemistry into a very profitable science.

Potato chips
In 1853, at a restaurant in Saratoga, New York, a particularly capricious customer (railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt) repeatedly refused to eat the French fries he was served, complaining that they were too thick and soggy. After he refused several plates of increasingly thin-cut potatoes, restaurant chef George Crum decided to get back at him by frying some wafer-thin potato slices in oil and serving them to the customer.
At first Vanderbilt began to say that this latest attempt was too thin to be pierced with a fork, but after trying a few he was very pleased and everyone in the restaurant wanted the same. As a result, a new dish appeared on the menu: “Saratoga chips,” which were soon sold all over the world.

Post-It Labels
The humble Post-It Notes were the result of a chance collaboration between a mediocre scientist and a disgruntled churchgoer. In 1970, Spencer Silver, a researcher at the large American corporation 3M, worked on a formula for a strong adhesive, but was only able to create a very weak adhesive that could be removed with almost no effort. He tried to promote his invention to the corporation, but no one paid attention to him.
Four years later, Arthur Fry, a 3M employee and member of his church choir, became very irritated by the fact that the pieces of paper he put in his hymn book as bookmarks kept falling out when the book was opened. During one church service, he remembered Spencer Silver's invention, had an epiphany (church is probably the best place for this), and then applied a little mild, but paper-safe, Spencer's glue to his bookmarks. It turned out that the little sticky notes did just what he needed, and he sold the idea to 3M. The trial promotion of the new product began in 1977, and today it is difficult to imagine life without these stickers.

It is enough to recall Archimedes, who, having immersed himself in a bath, discovered the law, then named by his name, about bodies immersed in water and their buoyant force, or Newton, on whom the famous apple fell. And, in the end, Mendeleev, who saw his table of parts in a dream.

Perhaps some of this is an exaggeration, but there are fully definite examples showing that in science almost everything depends on the variant.

Wired magazine collected some of them:

As is clear, Viagra was first developed as a remedy for sore throats. Men all over the world should be grateful to the residents of the Welsh town of Merthyr Tydfil. It was here in 1992 that an excellent side effect of the product was found during testing.

Swiss scientist Albert Hofmann became the first person to taste acid in 1943. He saw the effect of lysergic acid diethylamide for himself when he conducted medical research on this substance and its effect on the process of childbirth.

3. X-ray

In the 19th century, many scientists were interested in the rays that appeared as a result of electron impacts on an iron target. But the German scientist Wilhelm Roentgen discovered X-rays in 1895. He exposed different objects to this radiation and, changing them, accidentally saw how a projection of the bones of his hand appeared on the wall.

4. Penicillin

Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming studied influenza in 1928. At one point, he saw how blue-green mold (natural penicillin is secreted by mold fungi), multiplying in one of the Petri dishes, destroyed all the staphylococci located there.

5. Artificial sweeteners

Three common sugar substitutes were discovered only because scientists forgot to wash their hands. Cyclamate (1937) and aspartame (1965) were by-products of medical research, and saccharin (1879) was accidentally found in research work coal tar derivatives.

6. Microwave ovens

Microwave emitters (magnetrons) worked on Allied radars during World War II. New implementation capabilities were discovered in 1946, when a magnetron melted a chocolate bar in the pocket of Percy Spencer, one of the engineers of the American company Raytheon.

In the Middle Ages, wine merchants often evaporated the water from the transported drink so that it would not spoil and take up less space. Soon, someone resourceful decided to do without the recovery phase. Thus brandy was born.

8. Vulcanized rubber

Unvulcanized rubber is very unstable to external influences and smells bad. Charles Goodyear, after whom the Goodyear company was named, discovered the vulcanization process when he accidentally placed a mixture of rubber and sulfur on a hot stove.

9. Potato chips

Chef George Crum invented the popular snack in 1853. When one of his customers complained that his potatoes were cut into very thick slices, he took the potatoes, cut them into pieces almost the width of a sheet of paper, and fried them. This is how chips appeared.

10. Raisin buns

It is also worth mentioning the legend, described by Moscow expert journalist and writer Vladimir Gilyarovsky, that the raisin bun was invented by the famous baker Ivan Filippov. Governor General Arseny Zakrevsky, who once bought the freshest cod, suddenly found a cockroach in it. Filippov, called to the carpet, grabbed the insect and ate it, declaring that the general was mistaken - this was the highlight. Returning to the bakery, Filippov ordered an urgent start to baking raisin buns in order to justify himself to the governor.

History shows that some scientific discoveries, including those that turned the world upside down, were made completely by accident. It is enough to recall Archimedes, who, having immersed himself in a bath, discovered the law, later named after him, about bodies immersed in water and their buoyant force, or Newton, on whom the famous apple fell. And finally, Mendeleev, who saw his table of elements in a dream. Perhaps some of this is an exaggeration, but there are very specific examples showing that in science, too, much depends on chance. Wired magazine collected some of them.

1. Viagra.
As you know, Viagra was originally developed as a remedy for sore throats. Men all over the world should be grateful to the residents of the Welsh town of Merthyr Tydfil. It was here that a remarkable side effect of the drug was discovered during trials in 1992.

2. LSD.
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 conducting medical research on this substance and its effect on the process of childbirth.

3. X-ray.
In the 19th century, many scientists were interested in the rays that appear as a result of electrons striking a metal target. However, X-ray radiation was discovered by the German scientist Wilhelm Roentgen in 1895. He exposed various objects to this radiation and, while changing them, accidentally saw a projection of the bones of his own hand appear on the wall.

4. Penicillin.
Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming studied influenza in 1928. One day he noticed how blue-green mold (natural penicillin is produced by mold fungi) growing in one of the Petri dishes killed all the staphylococci present there.

5. Artificial sweeteners.
The three most common sugar substitutes were discovered only because scientists forgot to wash their hands. Cyclamate (1937) and aspartame (1965) were by-products of medical research, and saccharin (1879) was accidentally discovered during research on coal tar derivatives.

6. Microwave ovens.
Microwave emitters (magnetrons) powered Allied radar 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.

7. Brandy.
In the Middle Ages, wine merchants often evaporated the water from the transported drink so that it did not spoil and took up less space. Soon, someone resourceful decided to do without the recovery phase. Thus brandy was born.

8. Vulcanized rubber.
Unvulcanized rubber is very unstable to external influences and smells bad. Charles Goodyear, after whom the Goodyear company was named, discovered the vulcanization process when he accidentally placed a mixture of rubber and sulfur on a hot plate.

9. Potato chips.
Chef George Crum invented the popular snack in 1853. When one of his customers 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. This is how chips were born.

10. Raisin buns.
It is also worth mentioning here the legend described by Moscow expert journalist and writer Vladimir Gilyarovsky, that the raisin bun was invented by the famous baker Ivan Filippov. Governor General Arseny Zakrevsky, who once bought a fresh cod, suddenly discovered a cockroach in it. Filippov, called to the carpet, grabbed the insect and ate it, declaring that the general was mistaken - this was the highlight. Returning to the bakery, Filippov ordered an urgent start to baking raisin buns in order to justify himself to the governor.