Viagra, Teflon and bacteria against plastic: eight coincidences that changed the world

The history of science often begins not with brilliant formulas, but with surprises and coincidences. What at first glance seems like a mistake or a curiosity can be the beginning of a great discovery. It all depends on whether you are attentive enough to notice it and curious enough to investigate. This selection is about inventors who once made mistakes, but in the end it changed the world for the better.

Teflon: the magic of white residue

Many discoveries start with chance. But real breakthroughs happen when someone doesn't just ignore the strange results and starts digging into them. That's exactly what American chemist Roy J. Plunkett did on April 6, 1938.

That day, he was working in the DuPont laboratory on a new refrigerant for refrigeration equipment. During one of the experiments, it turned out that the tetrafluoroethylene gas in the cylinder had disappeared. Instead, a white solid precipitate remained. Rather than writing it off as a mistake or a flaw in the system, Plunkett decided to figure out what had gone wrong.