In 1886, a pharmacist named John Pemberton was trying to create a tonic for people who were tired, nervous, or had sore teeth. In a large kettle, he mixed up a medicinal syrup. At first, he mixed it with cold water, and thought it was good. When he went back for more, his assistant has [...]
Erasers – An English scientist named Joseph Priestley discovered that a wad of rubber was good for erasing (rubbing out) pencil marks on paper. But someone else discovered how to use it in boots, tires, and the like. There was a problem, though. Rubber would melt if it got too hot, and it would break [...]
Two vendors had their stands beside each other at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri. One of the vendors was selling a wafer-thin Persian waffle called zalabia. The other vendor was selling ice cream. It got so hot during the fair that the vendors ran out of dishes for the Ice cream. The [...]
The Pacemaker was an accident that actually saves lives today. Wilson Greatbatch was working on a device to record irregular heartbeats when he accidentally inserted a resistor of the wrong size. He noticed that the circuit pulsed, stopped, and pulsed again–just like a human heart. He worked with it for about two years and eventually [...]
Penicillin is famous example of a mistake turned good. In 1928, scientist Alexander Fleming noticed that mold spores had contaminated one of the bacteria samples he had left by an open window. He noticed the mold was dissolving the harmful bacteria. And that’s how we got penicillin, which helps people around the world recover from [...]
Yellow sticky notes (Post-it Notes) were about to be invented in 1968 when a 3M researcher tried to improve adhesive tape. He came up with a semi-sticky adhesive – not suitable for tape, but he thought it could have a use for something else, he just didn’t know what.
A few years later, another 3M scientist was needing [...]
Yes, potato chips were a surprise invention, too. In 1853, George Crum, a chef at a resort in Saratoga, New York, made French-fried Potatoes for a guest. The guest disapproved of the fries and sent them back, asking that they be sliced a little thinner. This happened twice, so the chef go a little miffed, [...]
Created by a 3M scientist, Scotchgard is a substance that helps prevent dirt from staining fabric. At first, the scientist was trying to make a synthetic rubber to be used in airplane fuel lines. By accident, some of the new substance spilled on her assistant’s canvas shoe, and they couldn’t get it off. As the [...]
Who didn’t have a Slinky when they were a kid? If you didn’t have one, I’m sure you at least played with one at some time. Slinkies are part of modern Americana.
The Slinky was invented by accident. In the early 1940s, a spring fell off the desk of a marine engineer named Richard James. It [...]
One of the most favorite cookies of all time was invented (accidentally) by Ruth Wakefield, an innkeeper. She was baking Butter Drop Do cookies one day, using a recipe that dated back to colonial times. Wanting chocolate cookies, she cut up a Nestlé chocolate bar and put the chunks in the batter. When she took [...]