7 Momentous Inventions Discovered by Accident

Penicillin

           The world’s first antibiotic, which has prevented millions of deaths from infection and disease, was the accidental byproduct of a messy workspace.

Alexander Fleming, a bacteriologist in London, returned from a vacation in 1928 to discover that one of the petri dishes in his lab had mold growing on it— the result of unintended contamination. On closer inspection, he saw that the area around the mold was free of bacteria. Fleming named this bacteria-killing mold juice penicillin after the species of fungus, Penicillium notatum, and published a paper about his discovery in 1929. However, he wasn’t sure if it had any practical use, as it was difficult to purify and stabilize.

         A decade later, chemists at Oxford University read Fleming’s paper and took up the project of turning penicillin into viable medicine. It was first tested on a patient in 1940, and widespread use began in 1942. Today, penicillin is the most commonly-used antibiotic in the world.

Smoke Detectors

    Smoke detectors are so commonplace in homes and businesses that they’re easy to overlook. But their invention has saved millions of lives, and having a working smoke detector in the home decreases the risk of dying in a fire by more than half. For that, you can thank Swiss physicist Walter Jaeger. In the 1930s, Jaeger was trying to invent a sensor that could detect poison gas. Instead, his device registered the smoke from his cigarette— a discovery that led to the invention of the modern smoke detector.