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.

It turned out that tetrafluoroethylene had unexpectedly polymerized, forming an entirely new substance. The material had unusual properties: it could withstand high temperatures, did not undergo chemical reactions, and was so slippery that almost nothing stuck to it.

Thus, polytetrafluoroethylene was born. DuPont quickly saw its potential and patented the new substance in 1941. And in 1945, they registered the trademark Teflon. Teflon was first used in the military industry – in particular, as part of the Manhattan Project, to coat parts that came into contact with aggressive substances such as uranium hexafluoride.

It wasn't until 1954 that French engineer Marc Gregoire figured out how to apply Teflon to a frying pan to prevent food from burning. The first non-stick frying pans soon appeared on the American market.

This significantly changed cooking and simplified dishwashing.

But Teflon's story didn't end there. Over time, it went far beyond the kitchen. Thanks to its chemical inertness and resistance to extreme conditions, it began to be used in the textile industry, electronics, aviation, medicine – for example, for suture material and implants – and even in space, for insulating cables and elements of spacesuits.

Goodyear's Rubber Revolution

Charles Goodyear spent years trying to "tame" rubber. It leaked in the sun, cracked in the cold, was capricious, and completely impractical. To find a solution, Goodyear sold off his possessions, went into debt, and experimented endlessly.

In one such experiment, he treated rubber with nitric acid. The material turned black and looked spoiled. Disappointed, he threw the piece aside. Later, he noticed: the rubber became smooth, hard and no longer sticky. This intrigued him.

Then he began to add sulfur. In 1839, according to legend, a piece of processed rubber accidentally fell onto a hot stove. Instead of melting, the material darkened, hardened and acquired new properties – it became elastic, waterproof, resistant to heat and cold. Rubber was no longer afraid of either summer or winter.

Thus Goodyear discovered the process of vulcanization (named after the Roman god of fire, Vulcan). He continued to work on the formula, perfecting it, but it was this chance event that became the turning point.

In 1844, Goodyear received a patent for his method.

Despite the revolutionary nature of his discovery, Goodyear was unable to make significant financial gains due to numerous patent infringements and lawsuits, and he died in poverty in 1860.

Viagra: a mistake that surpassed the purpose

Today, everyone knows about Viagra – as the "magic blue pill" for men. But few people know that it was originally created ... not for this at all.

In 1989, chemist Simon Campbell and his team synthesized the compound sildenafil at Pfizer's laboratory in Sandwich, UK. It was developed as a potential treatment for angina and high blood pressure. Initial clinical trials in the 1990s found that the drug had little effect on the cardiovascular system.

However, the researchers noticed an unexpected side effect: men in the trial experienced improved erections. The effect was so noticeable that some participants didn't want to return the remaining drug after the study ended.

Realizing the potential of this discovery, Pfizer shifted its research focus to sildenafil as a treatment for erectile dysfunction. In 1998, the drug was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the trade name Viagra. It became the first oral drug approved for the treatment of erectile dysfunction in the United States.

Viagra quickly gained popularity and became a symbol of a new era in the treatment of sexual disorders. Its success also paved the way for further research and development of other drugs for the treatment of erectile dysfunction.

Stickers instead of superglue

In 1968, chemist Spencer Silver tried to create a super-strong adhesive for aviation. But something went wrong – instead of a powerful adhesive, he got a substance that held weakly. However, it had an interesting property: it stuck well, was easily peeled off, and left no traces.

Silver paid attention to this. He investigated that it was all thanks to microspheres – tiny particles that made the glue "sticky, but not forever." It seemed that there was little benefit from this. But the inventor did not give up and continued to discuss the topic with colleagues.

Several years passed. Art Fry, another employee of the company, was looking for a bookmark for his prayer book – one that would hold but not tear the pages. He remembered that "strange glue", tried it – and oh, miracle! – everything worked perfectly.

This is how the Post-it was born – a sticker that can be stuck on and removed as many times as you want. And the bright yellow color? Pure coincidence: the lab just happened to have yellow paper on hand.

Microwaves and melted chocolate

In 1945, engineer Percy Spencer was working on radar technology and testing a magnetron, a device that generates microwaves. During one of his experiments, he noticed that a chocolate bar in his pocket suddenly melted. Surprise quickly turned to curiosity: could it be the microwaves that had heated it?

To test his guess, Spencer began experimenting. The egg exploded. The corn kernels turned into popcorn. The results were so striking that it became clear: he had the potential for something completely new.

Thus was born the idea of the microwave oven. The first models were large and quite expensive. But over the years the appliance became more compact, more convenient and more affordable. By the end of the 1980s, microwave ovens had become a familiar element of everyday life in many homes around the world.

The principle of operation is simple: a magnetron emits microwaves that cause water molecules in food to vibrate. This creates heat – and the food heats up quickly.

Smart dust: when debris matters

In 2001, Jamie Link, a graduate student in chemistry at the University of California, San Diego, was working on a porous silicon chip… which accidentally split in two. It seemed like the experiment had failed.

But no! It turned out that tiny fragments of the chip continued to work – they transmitted signals, changing color when interacting with certain substances. This discovery added a new dimension to the concept of " smart dust " – microscopic devices capable of collecting data, processing it and even transmitting it.

Today, these particles are used for:

• Water quality monitoring: Sensors can detect contaminants in water, allowing for rapid response to environmental threats.
• Detecting toxic substances in the air: Microscopic sensors are capable of detecting harmful chemicals in the atmosphere.
• Medical Applications: Although research is ongoing, there is potential for using "smart dust" to accurately detect and treat tumors in the body.

Bacteria that "eat" plastic

Plastic is one of the most influential inventions of the last century, replacing wood, paper, and metal with lightweight, waterproof, and rust-resistant materials. But it has also been shown to have a downside. Plastic is almost non-biodegradable, and this has become a serious problem for the planet.

In 2001, a group of Japanese scientists led by Kouhei Oda began research to find bacteria that could break down plastic. While studying a landfill in Sakai, Japan, they discovered a bacterium that not only broke down plastic, but literally "ate" it. This bacterium was named Ideonella sakaiensis .

Although the research began in 2001, the discovery was not officially published until 2016 in the journal Science . At that time, the problem of plastic pollution was not yet so acute, so the discovery did not receive wide publicity.

Ideonella sakaiensis degrades polyethylene terephthalate (PET) using two enzymes: PETase and MHETase. PETase breaks down PET into the intermediate product MHET (mono(2-hydroxyethyl)terephthalate), which MHETase then hydrolyzes to terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol, monomers that the bacterium uses as a source of carbon and energy.

In laboratory conditions, the bacterium decomposed a thin PET film (2 cm long) in about six weeks at room temperature.

Today, when plastic bottles and bags take hundreds of years to decompose, the discovery of Ideonella sakaiensis could be a real breakthrough in the fight against plastic pollution. Researchers are working to improve the enzymes of this bacterium to speed up the decomposition process and expand the range of plastics it can break down.

Pacemaker: How a Technical Error Saved Millions of Hearts

Wilson Greatbatch was an electrical engineer working in medical research in 1956 when he made a mistake that would change both his life and the entire medical field. He was trying to build a device to record heartbeats, but he accidentally put in the wrong resistor—1 MΩ instead of 10 kΩ. As a result, the device didn’t record the heart, but instead began to emit impulses of its own… in a distinctly rhythmic rhythm.

Greatbatch immediately understood what this could mean and set about creating the first truly portable pacemaker.

Until then, pacemakers could only be powered by the network – the most that could be done was to move the device to another room. The idea that a person with a heart condition would be able to move freely seemed revolutionary.

After several years of work, Greatbatch implanted his invention in his first patient in 1960—the first time in history that a heart block had been cured in this way. He later developed a long-lasting lithium battery that would provide power for years.

His accidental mistake became one of the most important medical breakthroughs of the 20th century. In 1985, the American Society of Professional Engineers recognized the pacemaker as one of the ten most influential engineering achievements of the past 50 years.