Inventions 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. Other examples of serendipity in inventions include: •
Carbonated water was invented by
Joseph Priestley, independently and by accident, in 1767 when he discovered a method of infusing water with carbon dioxide after having suspended a bowl of water above a beer vat at a
brewery in
Leeds, Yorkshire. He wrote of the "peculiar satisfaction" he found in drinking it, and in 1772 he published a paper entitled
Impregnating Water with Fixed Air. •
Vulcanization was discovered by
Charles Goodyear in 1839 when he accidentally dropped rubber mixed with sulfur on a hot frying pan. He noticed that the resulting rubber was stronger and heat-resistant. •
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
tempering. •
Safety glass first originated when French chemist
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. • The
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. • The antibiotic
penicillin, which was discovered by
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. • The predecessor to
ionization smoke detectors was created by Walter Jaeger in the late 1930s when he was trying to invent a poison gas sensor, which he failed to achieve. However, he noticed that the smoke from his cigarette caused the electric current in his circuit to drop, as shown on the meter. Subsequent modifications lead to the first commercial smoke detectors. • The polymer
teflon, which Roy J. Plunkett observed forming a white mass inside a pressure bottle during an effort to make a new
CFCs refrigerant. • In 1942,
super glue was first created when a team of scientists headed by
Harry Coover was trying to develop clear plastic
gun sights for
the war effort. They stumbled upon a formulation that stuck to everything with which it came in contact. 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. • The effect on humans of the psychedelic
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. •
Silly Putty, which came from a failed attempt at
synthetic rubber. • The
Velcro hook-and-loop fastener.
George de Mestral came up with the idea after a bird hunting trip when he viewed
cockleburs stuck to his pants under a microscope and saw that each burr was covered with tiny hooks. • 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.
Discoveries lacewingas, a new species, was made on Flickr.|thumb|The serendipitous discovery of a new species of lacewing, Semachrysa jade'', was made on
Flickr. Serendipity contributed to entomologist Shaun Winterton discovering
Semachrysa jade, a new species of
lacewing, which he found not in its native Malaysia, but on the photo-sharing site
Flickr. Winterton's discovery was aided by Flickr's ability to present images that are personalized to a user's interests, thereby increasing the odds he would chance upon the photo. Computer scientist
Jaime Teevan has argued that serendipitous discovery is promoted by such personalisation, writing that "people don't know what to do with random new information. Instead, we want information that is at the fringe of what we already know, because that is when we have the cognitive structures to make sense of the new ideas."
Online activity Serendipity is a design principle for online activity that would present viewpoints that diverge from those participants already hold. Harvard Law professor
Cass Sunstein argues that such an "architecture of serendipity" would promote a healthier democracy. Like a great city or university, "a well-functioning information market" provides exposure to new ideas, people, and ways of life. "Serendipity is crucial because it expands your horizons. You need that if you want to be free." The idea has potential application in the design of social media, information searches, and web browsing. ==Related terms==