Accidental Inventions

A Look at Just How Many Parts "accident" and "luck" Went into These Ingenious 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."

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