Editing Serendipity (section)

=== Inventions ===
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}} The term "serendipity" is often applied to inventions made by chance rather than intent. Andrew Smith, editor of ''The'' ''Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink'', has speculated that most everyday products had serendipitous roots, with many early ones related to animals. The origin of cheese, for example, possibly originated in the [[nomad]] practice of storing milk in the stomach of a dead camel that was attached to the saddle of a live one, thereby mixing [[rennet]] from the stomach with the milk stored within.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-power-of-serendipity/ |title=The Power Of Serendipity |website=CBS News |date=5 October 2007 |language=en |access-date=2019-02-17 |archive-date=2019-08-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811105037/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-power-of-serendipity/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

Other examples of serendipity in inventions include:
* [[Corn flakes]] were invented in 1894 when [[John Harvey Kellogg]] unintentionally left a batch of wheat-berry dough out over night. The next day, he decided to figure out what could be done to salvage it, rather than throwing it out. John, Will, and Ella Kellogg then discerned what happened and realized that this process could be reliably recreated through a process known as [[Dry milling and fractionation of grain#Tempering|tempering]].<ref name="Schwarz">{{cite book | last = Schwarz | first = Richard William | title = John Harvey Kellogg, M.D.: Pioneering Health Reformer | publisher = Southern Publishing Association | date = 1970 | location = Nashville, Tennessee |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-UuBq4I-9BQC&pg=PA14| pages = 14–18| isbn = 9780828019392 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Jacob|first=Teresa|title=Why Were Corn Flakes Invented? The Amazing History|url=https://www.owlratings.com/why-were-corn-flakes-invented/|work=Owl Ratings|date=July 12, 2007|publisher=Donna J. Kaiser|access-date=October 21, 2015|archive-date=May 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210510043114/https://www.owlratings.com/why-were-corn-flakes-invented/|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Safety glass]] first originated when French chemist [[:fr:Édouard_Bénédictus|Édouard Bénédictus]] accidentally dropped a glass flask in 1903 and noticed that it did not shatter like traditional glass. He then sought to refine the material to create a safer form of glass. He named his invention "triplex" since it consisted of two layers of glass separated by a thin layer of [[cellulose nitrate]]. Benedictus patented it in 1909, and triplex later became mass produced.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/history-you-asked/what-safety-glass |title=What is Safety Glass? |last=Schwarcz |first=Joe |date=2 July 2021 |website=McGill Office for Ccience and Society |publisher=McGill University |access-date=19 May 2025}}</ref>
* The [[Popsicle (brand)|Popsicle]], whose origins go back to San Francisco where Frank Epperson, age 11, accidentally left a mix of water and soda powder outside to freeze overnight.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Serendipity: Seemingly Random Events, Insignificant Decisions, and Accidental Discoveries that Altered History |last=Thomas |first=J. Thorson |publisher=Windy City Publishers |year=2017 |isbn=9781941478592 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1PFFDwAAQBAJ}}</ref>
* The antibiotic [[penicillin]], which was discovered by [[Alexander Fleming|Sir Alexander Fleming]] after returning from a vacation to find that a Petri dish containing [[staphylococcus]] culture had been infected by a ''Penicillium'' mold, and no bacteria grew near it.<ref name="alexanderfleming">{{Cite web |url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/alexander-fleming |title=Alexander Fleming: Fleming's serendipitous discovery of penicillin changed the course of medicine and earned him a Nobel Prize. |date=December 5, 2017 |website=Science History Institute |language=en |access-date=2020-04-28 |archive-date=2020-11-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201110200725/https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/alexander-fleming |url-status=live}}</ref>
* The polymer [[Polytetrafluoroethylene|teflon]], which Roy J. Plunkett observed forming a white mass inside a pressure bottle during an effort to make a new [[Refrigerant|CFCs refrigerant]].<ref>{{Cite patent |inventor-last=Plunkett |inventor-first=Roy J |inventorlink=Roy Plunkett |issue-date=4 February 1941 |title=Tetrafluoroethylene polymers |country-code=US |patent-number=2230654}}</ref>
* In 1942, [[super glue]] was first created when a team of scientists headed by [[Harry Coover]] was trying to develop clear plastic [[Sight (device)|gun sights]] for [[World War II|the war]] effort. They stumbled upon a formulation that stuck to everything with which it came in contact.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/harry-coover |title=Inventor of the Week Archive |date=September 2004 |publisher=Lemelson-MIT Program |access-date=21 September 2021 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503111504/https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/harry-coover |archive-date=3 May 2009 }}</ref> The team quickly rejected the substance for the wartime application, but in 1951, while working as researchers for [[Eastman Kodak]], Coover and a colleague, Fred Joyner, rediscovered cyanoacrylates, and then applied for a patent in 1954 which was issued in 1956.<ref>{{US patent|2768109}} ''Alcohol-Catalyzed α-Cyanoacrylate Adhesive Compositions'', filed June 1954, issued October 1956.</ref>
* The effect on humans of the psychedelic [[Lysergic acid diethylamide|lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)]] was discovered by Swiss chemist [[Albert Hofmann]] in 1943, after unintentionally ingesting an unknown amount, possibly absorbing it through his skin.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hofmann |first=Albert |title=LSD, my problem child: reflections on sacred drugs, mysticism, and science |date=2009 |isbn=978-0-9798622-2-9 |edition=Fourth English Language |location=Santa Cruz, CA |oclc=610059315}}</ref>
* [[Silly Putty]], which came from a failed attempt at [[synthetic rubber]].<ref name=":0" />
* The [[microwave oven]]. [[Raytheon]] scientist [[Percy Spencer]] first patented the idea behind it after noticing that emissions from radar equipment had melted the candy in his pocket.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://undsci.berkeley.edu/article/serendipity |title=The story of serendipity |website=Understanding Science |publisher=University of California Museum of Paleontology |access-date=2019-02-18 |archive-date=2018-11-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181108025727/https://undsci.berkeley.edu/article/serendipity |url-status=live}}</ref>
* The [[Velcro]] hook-and-loop fastener. [[George de Mestral]] came up with the idea after a bird hunting trip when he viewed [[Xanthium|cockleburs]] stuck to his pants under a microscope and saw that each burr was covered with tiny hooks.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200402/history.cfm |title=This Month in Physics History: February 9, 1990: Death of George de Mestral |date=February 2004 |website=American Physical Society |language=en |access-date=2019-02-18 |archive-date=2019-02-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190219015708/https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200402/history.cfm |url-status=live}}</ref>
* The [[Post-It Note]], which emerged after [[3M]] scientist [[Spencer Silver]] produced a weak adhesive,  and a colleague used it to keep bookmarks in place on a church hymnal.<ref name=":0" />
* The use of sensors to prevent automobile [[air bag]]s from killing children, which came from a chair developed by the [[MIT Media Lab]] for a [[Penn & Teller|Penn and Teller]] magic show.<ref name=":0" />
* In 1989, the pharmaceutical company [[Pfizer]] was looking for a treatment for high blood pressure and angina. They accidentally discovered that their experimental drug, sildenafil citrate, had unexpected side effects of increasing blood flow to certain areas of the body. In recognition of this entirely new area of marketing potential, they decided to name their drug after the side effect, evoking the ideas of "vitality" and "Niagara" , and called it "[[Viagra]]".<ref>https://scienceinfo.net/the-secret-behind-the-drug-name-viagra.html</ref>