I remember my childhood when I was always looking to make something with my basic tools such as an old broken hummer, a heavy machete that I took from the trash box, nails, woods, and other basic stuff. Most of the time, my work's outcome was different from what I was planning to make. When I chose to continue my academic journey in engineering, software engineering, in particular, I developed some important applications, or modules, randomly and mistakingly again. So, after researching on this topic, I found that there are many essential and game-changing things invented in the past, just come from some errors, mistakes, and misleading research.
Penicillin by Alexander Fleming
Penicillin (the world's first broadly effective antibiotic substance) was one of the game-changers in humanity's history, which came from a "wonder drug." Alexander Fleming (1988-1955), the discoverer of Penicillin, was a Scottish physician-scientist who found Penicillin in 1928 mistakingly. (NCBI, 2015) "I did not invent Penicillin. Nature did that. I only discovered it by accident," he said. Fleming was not a medical doctor, and even he did not enter medical school after finding Penicillin. Still, he was working in a shipping office for four years because he could not afford to intend to medical school. He could finally start his medical academics when he earned some real estate shares, and he graduated in 1906 with distinction from Mary's Medical School at London University. (NCBI, 2015)
Fleming was not even a researcher. He was serving as a private marksman (a person with special shooting skills) in the London Scottish Regiment when he accidentally found Penicillin. (Wikipedia contributors, 2021) He was an Army Medical Corps captain during the time when he was witnessing the death of many of soldiers "not always from wounds inflicted in battle, but from the ensuing infection that could not be controlled." (Ncbi.Nlm.Nih.Gov, 2015, para. 4) By that time of war, "The primary means to combat infection was antiseptics, which frequently did more harm than good." (NCBI, 2015, para. 4) Fleming was searching on a "wonder drug" form to cure the diseases in general, not particularly for infections at the time of war. He wrote an article that discussed the "presence of anaerobic bacteria" in deep wounds was not accepted. Fleming did not give up on his ideas, and ironically he discovered "lysozyme, an enzyme with weak antibacterial properties." in 1922.
Where did the mistake happen? Fleming got infected with a cold, and he "transferred some of his nasopharyngeal mucus onto a Petri dish. Not known for fastidious laboratory organization, he placed the dish among the clutter at his desk and left it there, forgotten, for two weeks." (NCBI, 2015, para. 4) When Fleming came back to the forgotten sample after weeks, he discovered lysozyme. The lysozyme was found in tears, saliva, skin, hair, and fingernails. So, now he could focus on the most game-changing invention in the history of medicine ever, Penicillin, with isolating a larger amount of "lysozyme from egg white, but in subsequent experiments found that this enzyme." (NCBI, 2015, para. 4)
The Pacemaker, a cold Heart Spin-Off by John Hopps
John Alexander Hopps (1919-1998) was an electrical engineer, so-called 'father of bioengineering in Canada', who worked for the National Research Council of Canada. Hopps was working on research on hypothermia by using frequency heating to restore the body temperature when he found that he could bring the heart to life again after it stopped beating due to cooling. Hopps found that stopped beating heart brings back to life with artificial stimulation, which led him to invent the "Pacemaker." (NCBI, 2006)
John accidentally found, "The electrical impulses were transmitted via a bipolar catheter electrode to the atria using a transvenous approach. Atrial pacing was readily achieved and heart rate could be controlled with no uncomfortable chest wall contractions." (NCBI, 2006)
Conclusion
We talked about the scientific and research accident, which led scientists to find some game-changing inventions in human history, but did just the accident make them happen? No! The primary requirement to be someone who accidentally invents something huge is not simple. Those requirements are the ability to believe in yourself, the ability to find a problem worth solving, the ability to build a prototype and test your ideas, and the ability to insist and protect your thoughts.
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