Science’s Accidental Successes
From Viagra and saccharine to penicillin and x-rays, science and serendipity often go hand in hand. Here are seven accidental discoveries that changed the world.
Sign up for Big Think on Substack
The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.
Medicine is science applied to the human body – and medical experiments are so complex and varied that things frequently don’t turn out as hoped. And, just to add a touch of comedy, accidents in this field are often crotch-oriented. The most famous below-the-belt invention of modern times was Viagra. The drug was meant to help patients with angina, a painful heart condition in which the circulatory system constricts and does not get enough oxygenated blood to the heart. Although the medication failed to treat the disease, it had a side effect of increasing blood flow elsewhere.
Sign up for Big Think on Substack
The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.
