Accidental Inventions From The Past

By | December 12, 2018

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1954: Sir Alexander Fleming (1881-1955), noted bacteriologist and joint winner of the 1945 Nobel Prize for Medicine, at work in his laboratory in the Wright-Fleming Institute. (Photo by Chris Ware/Keystone Features/Getty Images)

Fleming's most famous contribution to medicine was the accidental discovery of penicillin in 1928. 

Past inventions that have had a definite influence on our culture actually came about accidentally. Some of these “accidents” have produced megabucks for the inventors as well as breakthroughs in medical science and other avenues of living.

One of the scientific breakthroughs happened in 1928 when Alexander Fleming accidentally discovered penicillin. He was working on an experiment with bacteria and halfway through his experiment, he left to go on vacation. It was apparent that he was not a very tidy person because he left one of his dirty Petri dishes in the sink in his lab. When he returned from his vacation, he was quite surprised to find that bacteria had grown all over the dish except for one area. It was an area where mold had formed. And that mold, of course, led to the knowledge of what penicillin can do for our bodies. 

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Local Anesthesia (Photo from Healthjade.com)

Horace Wells, a dentist back in the 1800s inadvertently discovered the effects of nitrous oxide. Wells and his wife attended a demonstration of nitrous oxide but a friend of his took too much of it on the stage and became unaware of what he was doing (much like being intoxicated from drinking). While in this condition, he received a gash on his leg but was totally unaware of it, thus feeling no pain. When Wells realized this, he began using it on his patients, after first having his partner do a test on him while extracting a tooth from him. Later, when he went to Boston to present his discovery to the Massachusetts General Hospital, things did not go well. Because it was not given properly, the patient yelled out in pain, even though later, he admitted he didn’t remember feeling any pain. Wells was laughed to scorn and returned home the next day quite discouraged. His former partner later took credit for discovering ether anesthesia and Wells tried to fight it but to no avail. Just a couple of years later, after experimenting with ether, chloroform, and other chemicals, he became out of character and ended up in jail. When coming back to himself, realizing what he had done, he committed suicide. Ironically, twelve days before his death, the Parisian Medical Society voted, giving him the honor that was due him as the first to discover the way to perform surgery without pain. Sadly, he died without any knowledge of this.