+------------- Bizarre Accidental Discoveries -------------+
1. LSD
Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann was trying to come up with a chemical to induce childbirth. Instead he developed lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD. After he tried a bigger dose, he made another discovery: a bad acid trip.
2. X-ray
Several 19th-century scientists played around with the penetrating rays emitted when electrons struck a metal target. But the x-ray wasn't discovered until 1895, when Wilhelm Röntgen tried sticking various objects in front of the radiation - and saw the bones of his hand projected on a wall.
3. Penicillin
Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming was researching the flu in 1928 when he noticed that a blue-green mold had infected one of his petri dishes - and killed the staphylococcus bacteria growing in it.
4. Microwave ovens
The microwave oven came along in the 1940s. Microwave emitters (or magnetrons) were being used to power Allied radar during WWII. It was after a magnetron melted a candy bar in Raytheon engineer Percy Spencer's pocket that the common use for a microwave emitter was realized.
5. Potato chips
Chef George Crum concocted the perfect sandwich complement in 1853 when - to spite a customer who complained that his fries were cut too thick - he sliced a potato paper-thin and fried it to a crisp.
6. Artificial sweeteners
Speaking of botched lab jobs, three leading pseudo-sugars reached human lips only because scientists forgot to wash their hands. Cyclamate (1937) and aspartame (1965) are byproducts of medical research, and saccharin (1879) appeared during a project on coal tar derivatives.
1. LSD
Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann was trying to come up with a chemical to induce childbirth. Instead he developed lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD. After he tried a bigger dose, he made another discovery: a bad acid trip.
2. X-ray
Several 19th-century scientists played around with the penetrating rays emitted when electrons struck a metal target. But the x-ray wasn't discovered until 1895, when Wilhelm Röntgen tried sticking various objects in front of the radiation - and saw the bones of his hand projected on a wall.
3. Penicillin
Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming was researching the flu in 1928 when he noticed that a blue-green mold had infected one of his petri dishes - and killed the staphylococcus bacteria growing in it.
4. Microwave ovens
The microwave oven came along in the 1940s. Microwave emitters (or magnetrons) were being used to power Allied radar during WWII. It was after a magnetron melted a candy bar in Raytheon engineer Percy Spencer's pocket that the common use for a microwave emitter was realized.
5. Potato chips
Chef George Crum concocted the perfect sandwich complement in 1853 when - to spite a customer who complained that his fries were cut too thick - he sliced a potato paper-thin and fried it to a crisp.
6. Artificial sweeteners
Speaking of botched lab jobs, three leading pseudo-sugars reached human lips only because scientists forgot to wash their hands. Cyclamate (1937) and aspartame (1965) are byproducts of medical research, and saccharin (1879) appeared during a project on coal tar derivatives.
No comments:
Post a Comment