The Serendipity Is the valuable discovery that occurs accidentally or casually. This is the definition given by the RAE for a concept that in recent times has been more in the public eye thanks to films like Serendipity Or the literary bestseller Serendipity By David Sadness.
When you write an article like this, you can not help feeling the chills of knowing how you can change the life of a person or the whole of humanity through these cases or accidental accidents, which after an error or a seemingly insignificant find A spectacular breakthrough in medicine or industrial development.
In this article we have collected 12 cases of serendipity that have changed the world, although there are many more examples.
As an appetizer, I bring you the list of the discovery of Fleming's penicillin. A doctor who was fortunate enough to study medicine as his father, laborer, and poor country man saved the son of a nobleman who wanted to pay for Fleming's studies in gratitude.
12 extraordinary examples of serendipity
1- Beginning of Archimedes
Hiero (476 BC), monarch of Syracuse, gave to a silversmith a quantity of gold and silver for a crown. After this, the king doubted the honesty of the craftsman when distributing the elements and commissioned Archimedes I looked for a way to check if your order was a fraud or not.
The famous mathematician and physicist encountered a problem from which he could not find a solution. Fortunately, one day taking a bath, he noticed that when he put his body in the tub, some of the water overflowed, being the exact amount of weight that occupied his body.
To the famous cry of Eureka!, Archimedes found a solution to verify that the monarch had been cheated.
2- Discovery of America
Perhaps the most important case of serendipity in history. The 12 of October of 1492 and to the cry of Earth! By the sailor Rodrigo de Triana, the three Spanish caravels run by Christopher Columbus They arrived in the New World.
Considering that at that time it was thought that the land was flat, the crew surely thanked God that their boats did not fall in the void and that finally they arrived at the Indies.
Indeed, to the East Indies. Columbus set out in search of the silk and the spices, exotic riches in Europe and of which it was known thanks to Marco Polo.
The shipowner of unknown origin convinced the Catholic Monarchs that the Indians could be reached around the land, without having to follow the traditional routes and saving time, money and the obstacles of the time such as pirates. Columbus was not mistaken, but he never imagined that wonders would be found along the way.
Color blindness
At the end of the eighteenth century, the young but talented chemist and naturalist John Dalton Surprised everyone with his work Extraordinary facts related to the vision of colors (1794), in which he described on a scientific basis the problems of color perception in some people.
The legend of how Dalton discovered this deficiency varies according to research and reports. Some say he realized his inability to get the desired results when he mixed the specimens in his laboratory in Eaglesfield, his hometown.
Others, however, suggest that the British scientist took a good reprimand from his mother by giving her some blue stockings, which turned out to be purple, a color closely related at the time to women prostitutes.
John Dalton passed away without the recognition of his work around vision and colors. Despite this, the scientific community retracted and took into consideration its discovery, denominating it in his honor Colour blindness .
4- Discovery of penicillin
Fleming in his laboratory.
Next to the voyage of Columbus, possibly the most important"accidental"discovery of humanity. The achievement is attributed to the doctor Alexander Fleming , Who worked in the field of microbiology or pharmacology being recognized his work with the Nobel Prize of Medicine in 1945.
In 1928, during one of his investigations that he stopped, he noticed that in one of the plates with which he had been working and that he forgot to eliminate, a bacterium denominated Staphylococcus aureus had been cultivated. Beside it, a fungus that paralyzed the growth of the bacterium thanks to a substance that produced its death.
This fungus, of the species penicillium, possibly came from one of the laboratories nearby, where they worked to combat certain allergies.
In any case, thanks to the forgetfulness of the Scottish scientist, to date the quality of life of the human species has been improved and has given rise to many more medical specialties.
5- The coca cola
The origin of the most famous drink in history was not to refresh our throats and make us feel the spark of life.
In 1886, John S. Pemberton , A pharmacist who worked in Atlanta (USA), devised a syrup that fought the problems of digestion and also provided a plus of energy.
Soon, the drink became popular and its use was not limited to digestive problems alone. Frank Robinson, a Pemberton accountant registered the brand under the name of Coca-Cola, also founding the company The Coca-Cola Company.
6- Super-Glue
Better known as Super Glue, his discovery is due to research carried out by Harry Coover.
The inventor and chemist worked in the manufacture of an optically transparent plastic to make sunglasses that served for the sights of the rifles.
The problem was that the cyanoacrylate, which was the substance with which it worked, possessed incredibly sticky properties and adhered to everything it touched. Coover understood that its true utility was to be used as glue. And that's how he sold the Super Glue in 1958.
7- Discovery of viagra
The best-selling drug in the world is used as a drug against sexual impotence in men. However, the source function that was working at the time was quite different.
Pfizer, a biomedical company, was working on a drug that would relax blood vessels to fight angina, one of the most common heart problems. The results were never satisfactory and all they got was a very peculiar side effect.
It appears that all volunteers who underwent the tests developed erections, which led to the development of the first oral drug to solve problems of sexual dysfunction among men. Currently, sales of Viagra exceed the 1000 million dollars worldwide.
8- Post-it
In this case, if you were looking for a superadhesive element. Dr. Spencer Silver worked hard on it, but its usefulness did not come to fruition as it did not have enough power. He fell into a box of tailors, until Art Fry, another employee of the company where Spencer worked, looked for a profit.
Devoted to the pre-church church, Fry sang in the choir and was accustomed to point out the psalms of the chants with bits of paper. To their desperation, these quickly fell, being a discomfort.
In a moment of lucidity, Fry recalled his companion's invention, deducing that this"provisionally permanent adhesive"was the solution to his problem. 3M, the company where Fry and Silver worked, patented and marketed the well-known Post-it in 1980.
9- French fries Chips
George Crum was a reputed New York chef who had his little Chinese in the shoe because of the dissatisfaction of a regular customer with the chips.
One summer of 1853, the customer again showed his disagreement with the cut of the potatoes, since they considered that they were too thick and pasty.
Crum, annoyed by the critical comments of the diner, decided to cut the potatoes as thin as a piece of paper and set them to fry until crisp.
Disparately, they were served to the customer in response to their complaints. To his surprise, it turned out that this culinary invention charmed and soon the restaurant had to add them to the menu as a usual dish.
10- Discovery of LSD
He LSD Is a psychedelic drug that had a lot of impact among young people during the 60s and 70s and which, to this day, is still a very valued product on the black market for narcotics.
Its discovery is born of a"curious presentimiento"that had the Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman In 1943. Years before, Hoffman was able to synthesize this compound, which gave him hope of being a beneficial medicine for the circulatory and respiratory systems. The only result that was achieved was to make the animals with which he treated became extraordinarily restless.
However, Hoffman returned the investigation in 1943 and, as he re-synthesized LSD, he experienced a feeling of dizziness that forced him to leave his laboratory. Already in his house, he experienced some non-objectionable hallucinogenic sensations in which he saw images or fantastic forms, kaleidoscopes and very intense colors.
Surprised, at three days, he decided to ingest a much larger amount to test the effects of LSD. After that, he returned home by bicycle, where his condition worsened and he was forced to attend a medical consultation thinking he had gone mad.
In the following short you can understand a little how the famous"Bike Day"developed:
Microwave Oven
In 1946, the doctor Percy Spencer Was investigating with a radar called Magnetron, with which it tried to locate of remote way machines of war like the tanks.
One day, while working on the project, Spencer decided to stop for something to eat to replenish energy. She wore a chocolate in her pants, but she could never enjoy it because it was completely melted.
Spencer began to suspect that the blame for this would be the radar, so he experienced leaving an egg and popcorn beside him. After a while, the egg was cracked and the popcorn exploded.
Spencer saw more domestic use than war, so that same year they decided to market the first microwave ovens. However, it was a total failure due to the cost and they were an oversized size for any home.
It was not until the 1970s that smaller, more reasonably priced models were developed at last. Today they are one of the most sold appliances in the world.
12- Kellogg's Cereals
The famous Corn Flakes of this well-known brand of cereals were patented in 1894, but its origin goes back to previous years.
Adventists, interested in obtaining foods to be included in a vegetarian diet, experimented with grains such as wheat, rice, barley, wheat, or corn. In front was Dr. John Harvey Kellogg's, director of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, which applied strict diet to his patients.
These foods were bland and anti-aphrodisiac, since Adventists promote the limitation of sexual intercourse.
In one of the processes of cooking wheat, Dr. Kellogg had to abandon the task and left the wheat to rest more than it should. The result was that it had been overcooked, but the doctor and his brother decided to knead it with rollers until obtaining small flakes.
Due to their economic limitations, they were served in the sanatorium and to everyone's surprise they liked it very much. The grains were soon patented and marketed under the Kellogg's company.
13-Saccharin
Up to three sweeteners were discovered by chance because scientists did not remember washing their hands: ciclomato (1937), aspartame (1965) and the famous saccharine (1879).
Constantine Fahlberg, a student at Johns Hopkins University, had been having lunch for a while when she tasted a sweet taste in her soup and the bread she had been served. Outraged, he told the cook, who did not perceive that supposed sweet taste.
Strangely, Fahlberg noticed that the same flavor had it in the palm of his hand, so he deduced that perhaps the cook had not committed any irregularity when he made the soup.
He returned to the laboratory where he worked, discovering that the unknown substance that gave that characteristic flavor had adhered to him in the course of the investigation he was carrying before lunch.
Discovered the properties of that substance, the student patented it in 1884 under the name of saccharin, marketed it as a substitute of cane sugar.
Other inventions or discoveries results of a serendipity
- Pacemaker
- Plastic
- Dynamite
- Fireworks
- Quinine
- Cognac
- Radioactivity
- gin tonic
- Rubber
- X rays
- Clay
- Fluorescent
References
- Doval, G (2011). Coincidences and serendipities of history. Nowtilus ISBN 9788499671833
- ROBERTS, Royston M. (1992) Serendipity. Madrid: Alianza.