The Power of Accidental Discoveries 174
schmiddy writes "An article from Wired mentions the surprising number of discoveries that have been made entirely by accident. In an older article, The Discovery Channel's site points out a different subset of inventions that happened by accident. A much older article from PBS goes into more depth on the subject of accidental discoveries, and gives a great quote from physicist Joseph Henry: 'The seeds of great discoveries are constantly floating around us, but they only take root in minds well prepared to receive them.'"
Number 10: Potato Chips (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Number 10: Potato Chips (Score:5, Interesting)
The accidental discovery of the potato chip was important only in that ultimately, when people searched for a way to improve the thin and lackluster potato chip of the masses, the miracle of Pringles was born. I don't know how people could just eat those greasy things that come in a bag for several decades.
One item of trivia that might amuse fans of science fiction is that the machine responsible for Pringles was invented by Gene Wolfe, author of the masterpiece tetralogy The Book of the New Sun [amazon.com] and formerly a professional engineer.
Re:Number 10: Potato Chips (Score:2)
Re:Number 10: Potato Chips and Pringles (Score:2, Interesting)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pringles [wikipedia.org]
But I also have a personal recollection. When in University, I was an engineering student at a major US "ivy league" school. Naturally we had people from industry who would visit on occasion and discuss the ways in which engineering were used in businesses (so as to appear attractive to as as potential career choices for employment). One such presentation was in 1974 or 1975 on Pringles from a guy from Procter & Gam
Re:Number 10: Potato Chips (Score:2)
One of the worst written books I've ever read, too (the Knight). I left it at the restaurant this afternoon, and only reluctantly went back to get it.
In all honesty, all breakthroughs almost have to be by definition discoveries of mistakes. Humans are great pattern recognization engines, but you either have to have a mistake (penicillin) or be crazy (Tesla) to break out of the mold, so to speak, and discover/create something radically new.
Re:Number 10: Potato Chips (Score:2)
It is just that my tolerance of metafiction isn't very high.
It's a fun trick, and I use it occasionally in my own writings, but an entire book filled with such is nothing but aggravating.
Re:Number 10: Potato Chips (Score:5, Funny)
Recipes (Score:5, Funny)
mmm.. peanut butter & bananas.
Like chocolate chip cookies... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Recipes (Score:2)
I did something like this not so long ago. We had mushrooms (the regular kind - not the hallucenogenic ones), and needed to use them up. I fried them with garlic and onions, put them on bagels, added chedar, and then toasted the lot. It actually worked pretty good...
Re:Recipes (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Recipes (Score:2)
Anyway, yes it was bread/toppings/cheese, but it was also cobbled together from stuff that I didn't know would mix well. That was the point. And I suck at all things cooking related, so figuring out how to use up leftovers without either eating them straight (not so good for mushrooms) or mixing them into something like ramen, omlets or spagheti sauce is kinda cool.
(Side note: The plain bagels/cheese approach is good by itself. Anything else is optional)
Re:Recipes (Score:1)
Q: How many layers does it take to replace a lightbulb?
A: They never finish. They just keep thinking about how they can sue the lightbulb maker.
Re:Recipes (Score:2)
Or Reeses? (Score:4, Funny)
Scene : Death Star Troops' day room as they are approaching Yavin.
TIE Fighter pilot-1 : Mmmmm... Chocolate.
TIE Fighter pilot-2 : Mmmmm... Peanut butter
Pilot-1 bumps into Pilot-2
Pilot-2 : Hey! You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!
Pilot-1 : You got your peanut butter on my chocolate!
Both taste the new combo. "It's delicious!"
Pilot-1 : You know who would like this? Governor Tarkin.
Pilot-2 : Yeah. He likes chocolate, and he likes peanut butter.
Pilot-1 : Let's bring him some.
Alarm klaxons go off and all fighter pilots are ordered to their ships.
Pilot-2 : As soon as the battle's over.
And so the galaxy would have to wait...
Re:Recipes (Score:1)
Re:Recipes (Score:2)
So, yes.. I do know.
Re:Recipes (Score:2)
Re:Recipes (Score:2)
The first to fight off bees for honey was probably a bear, not a human, humans probably got the idea from watching the bear.
Re:Recipes (Score:1)
Re:Recipes (Score:2)
Not so surprising. (Score:2)
Re:Not so surprising. (Score:5, Interesting)
for instance.. when the periodic table was first created, it was surmised there were many elements which were to be discovered.. loe and behold they were eventually, but a lot of the later ones had to be lab created. Had the periodic table not been produced we might not have been interested in doing so.
What I don't get is why half the polymers we use dont end up on that list linked in but viagra does, oh wait yes i do ; ).. but i mean several polymers (the names of which i can't recall off the top of my head) were discovered as a biproduct of petrol purification experiments.
Re:Not so surprising. (Score:2)
Re:Not so surprising. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Not so surprising. (Score:1)
Inkjet printers (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Inkjet printers (Score:2, Informative)
IIRC, it was a combination of discoveries between Cannon and HP. They each perfected different parts of the technology and agreed to cooperate and share patents.
TV may have progressed faster if inventors has cooperated like this because it took multiple parts to get it to work practically. Instead it was delayed by patent fights.
Asimov (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Asimov (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Asimov (Score:2, Informative)
Asimov quote (Score:5, Informative)
"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not Eureka! (I found it!) but 'That's funny...'"
Is that what you where remembering?
Re:Asimov quote (Score:2)
"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not Eureka! (I found it!) but 'That's funny...'"
Is that what you where remembering?
Of course there is also John Lennon's quote, "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.", which seems to apply.
Re: Asimov quote (Score:3, Funny)
That's funny...
Re:Asimov quote (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Asimov quote (Score:2)
Re:Asimov quote (Score:2)
Is this surprising? (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure, there are lots of non-accidental discoveries as well: You test a thousand samples looking a specific enzyme and discover that one of them has it. You take spectra over the course of months for a bunch of stars likely to have planets, analyze them looking for planets, and you discover that one of them has planets. You try to find a quantitative model to explain a bunch of specific data, and you end up finding one.
But most of the time you discover something really new either by getting lucky and stumbling across it or by looking at the world with an new instrument and figuring out the results. Either way, you can't know what it is you're looking for until you've found it.
Unfortunately, most of the examples cited by the articles aren't really discoveries at all. They're inventions. And some aren't really accidental. (The exception is the Nova site, which provides a thorough and engaging look at people expecting to find one thing and finding something else entirely.)
Velcro wasn't an accidental discovery, even according to the description in the article itself. A man picked up a natural object and observed it, noticed a particularly appealing characteristic, and then spent years struggling to reproduce it in a practical commercial product. That's about as non-accidental as you can get. It's a textbook (well, children's book) version of engineering, with no surprises anywhere in sight.
Re:Is this surprising? (Score:1)
A fascinating quote (Score:5, Funny)
Re:A fascinating quote (Score:1)
Re:A fascinating quote (Score:3, Informative)
Isaac Asimov [brainyquote.com]
Re:A fascinating quote (Score:2, Informative)
Re:A fascinating quote (Score:2)
Actually, it was Geiger and Marsden (a post-doc and a student), not Rutherford, who performed the experiment. Rutherford just interpreted the unusual results (and - having regularly watched the head of my lab take credit for the insights of his underlings - one can't help wondering how much unacknowledged input Geiger and Marsden had into that interpretation ... :)
janting (Score:2, Interesting)
My description would pale in comparison to the original, so I won't try. Suffice to say, read this book, be amazed, then look when it was written and be doubly amazed.
Serendipity (Score:3, Informative)
Fundemental discoveries are made by accident. (Score:4, Interesting)
not really an accident... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Fundemental discoveries are made by accident. (Score:1)
Re:Fundemental discoveries are made by accident. (Score:5, Informative)
"The interpretation of these results is that there is no displacement of the interference bands.
The experiment was therefore a success. It was interpreted correctly, and an appropriate conclusion was drawn from it. Einstein had nothing whatsoever to do with it. Unless you have a limited capacity for rational thought, and believe that the only scientist of any note was Einstein, so he must be involved in every story you tell.
Interestingly, I have often found that explaining that Einstein was not born in America, and only took American citizenship when he was no longer producing any useful physics often produces a sudden re-evaluation of his scientific importance to a more appropriate level. Why don't you read original research documents instead of making up history in the Hollywood style?
Re: Fundemental discoveries are made by accident. (Score:2)
However, if I'm not mistaken, the result of the experiment set up a problem which Einstein solved by the introduction of general relativity.
Make that special relativity (Score:2)
Re:Fundemental discoveries are made by accident. (Score:2)
So you prefer a misleading of your own regarding Einstein, eh?
I seriously doubt that Einstein sat down one day and thought or said "I am no longer producing any useful physics, it is finally time to become an American citizen." yet the way
Best quote (Score:5, Funny)
- Bob Ross [wikiquote.org]
Re:Best quote (Score:1)
(OT) Re: Best quote (Score:2)
Gaunch (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Gaunch (Score:2)
And in this case, his famous words of discovery were not "Eureka!" but "Oh Shit Oh Shit Oh Shit I'm Gonna Dieeeeeee!"
There is a pattern to accidental discoveries! (Score:5, Insightful)
Alexander Fleming got his petri dishes accidentally ruined by mould. Fleming realised that the mould's antibacterial property could be useful and eventually another scientist succeeded in producing penicillin.
What would your average scientist have done in the same circumstances? Cursed his/her luck and thrown away the dish, most likely...
Re:There is a pattern to accidental discoveries! (Score:2)
Re:There is a pattern to accidental discoveries! (Score:2)
Grab.
Actually, that's the nature of "discovery". (Score:4, Insightful)
Just goes to show the benefits of blue sky thinkin (Score:2)
Re:Just goes to show the benefits of blue sky thin (Score:2)
In the USA there has become a great focus on short-term results, with a resulting unwillingness to invest in longer-term results. Businesses want to optimize the next quarterly report; too much research erodes reportable profits. The Federal govenment wants to reduce spending that doesn't of
The Power of Accidental Discoveries (Score:1, Funny)
Pasteur had a great quote: (Score:5, Insightful)
Both homogenation and pennicillin were discovered when something expected _didn't_ happen. If they were sloppy, they'd never be able to figure out 'what just happened?'.
Flotation - For the separation of mixtures (Score:4, Interesting)
[i]is a method for the separation of mixtures. Flotation is a separation technique used widely in the minerals industry, for paper, de-inking, and water treatment amongst others. It can also be used in the food and coal industries. The technique relies upon differences in the surface properties of different particles to separate them. The particles that are to be floated are rendered hydrophobic by the addition of the appropriate chemicals. Air is then bubbled through the mixture and the desired particles become attached to the small air bubbles and move to the surface where they accumulate as a froth and are collected, or if the non-desired particles float to the surface they are collected and discarded. The flotation process was developed on a commercial scale early in the 20th century at Broken Hill in Australia and is widely used for processing of sulphide minerals (copper, lead, zinc, nickel, cobalt etc...).[/i]
The anecdotal story I heard was the chief metalurgists wife was washing his work clothes and commented on the shiny qualities of the bubbles.
X-Rays (Score:1)
Perhaps unsurprisingly, he died of cancer.
Re:X-Rays (Score:4, Informative)
While a lot of people like to feel clever by deducing that the inventor of the x-ray died from cancer because overexposing himself to it, it just isn't true.
Re:X-Rays (Score:2)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Curie [wikipedia.org]
no.9 (Score:2)
I've seen co-workers make amazing discoveries (Score:1)
AI breakthrough from tweaking parameters (Score:1, Interesting)
A breakthrough in artificial intelligence [artilectworld.com] occurred on 7 June 2006 as a result of tweaking some parameters in open-source AI software.
Re: (Score:2)
How can I "prepare my mind" (Joseph Henry quote)? (Score:4, Interesting)
In an alternate train of thought, it's too bad Charles Robert Richet, the French physiologist mentioned in the article [pbs.org], couldn't have experimented on politicians instead of dogs.... Maybe a precident could have been set that
Pasteur quote and microwave cooking (Score:2, Insightful)
Louis Pasteur's dictum is later: "Chance favors the prepared mind."
The original quote [wikiquote.org] is less pithy: "Dans les champs de l'observation le hasard ne favorise que les esprits préparés" (In the fields of observation chance favors only the prepared mind).
Using microwaves to heat food was supposedly discovered when a candy bar melted in the pocket of a soldier guarding a r
Re:Pasteur quote and microwave cooking (Score:2)
mind. The seemingly more common version is that Percy Spencer, working at Raytheon
noticed that his candy bar got warm and soft whilst working with a magentron.
Perspectives (Score:4, Funny)
Creationist: "The power of the Dark Side."
interesting to see noted her but not surprising... (Score:1)
The Far Side (Score:2, Funny)
You can't make brandy this way. (Score:4, Insightful)
Um...alcohol boils at a *lower* temperature than water does. If you "boil the H2O" out of wine, the alcohol's gone long before the H2O is.
Re:You can't make brandy this way. (Score:2)
"Accidental" Discoveries (Score:2)
Of course, such a situation causes quite a bit of disruption in the status quo and can make news until the idea guy learns a bit more.
I've seen this happen (and been guilty of it myself). Brilliant conceptual ideas almost always come from people who don't know the complicated details. If there is a lot of ego or money invested in a non-workable idea, that's when mar
Penicillin (Score:3, Informative)
"A researcher in bacteriology, Fleming didn't throw anything away for at least two weeks after he'd worked on it. Instead, he let it sit on his desk for a while, to see whether there was any change in his thinking or in the projects themselves before he scrapped anything."
His discovery was the result of a deliberate, systematic practice.
not accidental (Score:2)
A much better list... (Score:2)
Royston M. Roberts. Just check out the table of contents on Amazon [amazon.com].
Safety glass is NOWHERE... (Score:2)
No, actually it isn't. You can hardly find it anywhere, these days. I really wish I could...
In cars, safety glass has been completely replaced by "tempered" glass. Now, I don't mind that for the side windows, mirrors, and perhaps the rear window, but it's TERRIBLE windsheild material.
If you've ever had your windsheild get a tiny nick (from a small pebble) which slowly grew into a gigantic crack that spreads across the whole
Re:Safety glass is NOWHERE... (Score:2)
Re:Safety glass is NOWHERE... (Score:2)
No. It says "TEMPERED SAFETY GLASS" on the pane, in no uncertain terms.
Tempered glass:
Edison and Menlo Park (Score:2)
What an amazing time period.
Edison was a determined genius and a good administrator. His inventions (film, audio, electricity, light bulbs - just 3 out of 1200) are still a STAPLE in western society.
Perhaps there will be more like him in the near future. He was a true one-man revolution.
Actually... (Score:3, Interesting)
Edison was a shrewd businessman and marketer, as well. He still has a lot of people fooled, including you, apparently.
Film? I assume by this you mean "motion pictures", but Edison was not the "inventor" of such technology, he merely managed to package it up into a nice assembly. Many, many people contributed toward the progress of motion p
Teflon (Score:2, Interesting)
One day in his chemistry lab, Dr. Roy J. Plunkett went to open a tank of gaseous tetrafluoroethylene, but no gas came out. Many lab workers, even scientists, would simply replace the tank with a full one. But not Plunkett! He weighed the tank and mysteriously, it still weighed the same as when it was full of gas! Evidently the gas had *not* leaked out.
He investigated by actually sawing the gas tank open. In
The time must be right... (Score:2)
One of the basic rules of the Universe is that you can't understand the answer unless you understand the question and *most* of the answer to start with. Without underlying knowledge, it won't work. For example, the ancient greeks had the idea that matter was made up of individual items called atoms. Very nearly right, but it took a couple of thousand years before the idea came up again.
Example 1 (silly): An AMD64 drops through a wormhole/ST rift/whatever and la
Alcoholism treatment (Score:2)
Velcro should not be on the lists. That was an intentional product creation.
Re:LSD (Score:4, Funny)
Re:LSD (Score:1)
Re:Words of discovery (Score:2)
They say that in the Department of Redundancy Department.
Re:Words of discovery (Score:2)
Re: Something is missing from the list (Score:2)
It's hardly a discovery when you make up a bunch of bullshit to rationalize an a priori belief.
Nice troll though, if a bit dated.
Re:Milk (Score:2)
I often wonder about who was the first to say, "Hmmm. I wonder what X tastes like?" With X = lobster, clams, snails, squid, truffles, caviar, blowfish, etc.
Also, what about the poor sods who discovered that too much of an item can equal an instant and/or painful death (i.e., blowfish)? Was there experimentation? Trial and Error?