Isaac Newton had already made important contributions to mathematics and science before he made his most well-known achievement. However, Newton's discovery of gravity may have been through sheer luck! He was sitting in his yard when he noticed an apple fall down from a tree. He wondered why apples always fell straight down, and never in any other direction. 20 years later, he published his theory on gravity. The rest is history. Newton didn't intend to discover gravity when he did. But what may be even more staggering is that he might not even have been at home at the time were it not for a plague. The plague outbreak shut down the university where he worked. This misfortune may have led to one of the biggest discoveries in science!
Every day, we use products like microwaves and post-it notes to make our lives easier. These ingenious inventions were not the result of ideation. Startlingly enough, they were products of serendipity! The same can be said of many accidental revelations which we now take for granted. Below are some examples of these unintentional miracles.
Long ago in ancient Syracuse, the great thinker Archimedes exclaimed, "Eureka!" as he stepped into his bath. No, he wasn't complaining about the temperature of the water. He had just come upon his theory of water displacement. He noticed that the water level changed when he stepped in. He theorized that the volume of the water displaced must have been equal to the volume of his body in water. He later used this theory to help a king determine the purity of a gold crown.
In 1889, Oscar Minkowski and Josef von Mering, conducted an experimental surgery on a dog. They wanted to understand how the pancreas affected digestion, so they removed the dog's pancreas. They later noticed that removing the pancreas had given the dog diabetes. Decades later, a research team in Canada discovered insulin. Insulin is a chemical in the pancreas that regulates blood sugar levels. This discovery has helped save millions of lives since.
During World War II, James Wright was tasked with inventing a cheap alternative to synthetic rubber. Wright accidentally dropped boric acid into silicone oil and noticed that the mixture was stretchy and bouncy. It took some time, but Wright was able to find a businessman to market his "nutty putty." You might know this soft and squishy sludge as silly putty. Perhaps the best thing about it is that it isn't as messy as it looks!
Ascanio Sobrero invented nitroglycerin, but it was Alfred Nobel who used it to make dynamite. There are various stories about how Nobel created dynamite. He may have accidentally discovered the substance he could use to control nitroglycerin. However, there were some unhappy accidents along the way, including one which killed his brother. Some people believe that his establishment of the Nobel Peace Prize was a way of atoning for his creation.
Some accidental discoveries have proven to be beneficial to the world. Others have been destructive. Some teeter on the edge between helpful and harmful. Teflon is a common name for a synthetic polymer used to make everything from nonstick cooking pans to weapons ammunition. You'd be surprised to learn that it too was an accidental ideation, despite its universal uses. Roy J. Plunkett was a scientist researching for something completely different in 1938. During his experiments, noticed that some of his gas had turned into a white power. Plunkett discovered that the material was heat-resistant with low surface friction. He realized that this made it an ideal multi-purpose material.
People may like to deride some accidental achievements as a fluke. But flukes are also amongst the most common fish in the sea. So if you go fishing for a fluke, chances are, you just might catch one.