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9 things invented or discovered by accident

Posted Sep 10th, 2010 at 1:53 PM and seen
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We tend to hold inventors in high esteem, but often their discoveries were the result of an accident or twist of fate. This is true of many everyday items, including the following surprise inventions.

In this article, we'll take a look at some of these inventions.

  • Corn Flakes: When Will Keith Kellogg left some boiled wheat sitting out, it went stale by the time he returned. Rather than throw it away, he and his brother sent it through rollers, hoping to make long sheets of dough, but they got flakes instead.
  • Saccharin: Saccharin, the oldest artificial sweetener, was accidentally discovered in 1879 by researcher Constantine Fahlberg. He had spilled a chemical on his hands and it, in turn, caused the bread he ate to taste unusually sweet.
  • Play-Doh: Play-Doh was accidentally invented in 1955 by Joseph and Noah McVicker while trying to make a wallpaper cleaner.

Full list at HowStuffWorks.com.

Total aggregation of HowStuffWorks.com.

Photo credit: Fotolia

 HowStuffWorks.com

Comments (4)

Sep 10, 2010
aa said...
thats cool
Sep 10, 2010
kurttappe said...
Some notable omissions: Penicillin, X-rays, Teflon, Viagra.
Sep 11, 2010
Boz23 said...
Post-its would have to be on the top of the list.
Sep 11, 2010
John said...
As I understand the story of Post-It's, yes the guy used a slightly sticky adhesive, but it was part of a big failure. The goal of the other person was to make a super sticky adhesive. Luckily he shared his "failure" and a use was found for it.

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