- CORN FLAKES
In 1877, Dr. Kellogg created a mixture of flour, oats, and cornmeal, which he baked twice and broke into small pieces to serve after a patient broke her tooth on a biscuit version of the mix. In his opinion, baking whole grains at high temperatures would produce the simple sugar dextrose, which would make them more easily digestible. John Kellogg baked a wheat dough for the first time at extremely high temperatures to break down the starch in the grain into the simple sugar dextrose. He called this process dextrinization. For years, Dr. Kellogg and Will worked together to create dextrinized flaked cereals – first with wheat, then with corn. At first, the cereals were ready to eat without sugar or milk. While W. K. Kellogg was a pioneer in the mass marketing of the cereal to the public, he also noticed the potential benefits of mixing the cereal with milk.
- SUPER GLUE
The first cyanoacrylates were discovered in 1942 when a team of scientists at the B.F. Goodrich Company, led by Harry Coover Jr, were making clear plastic gun sights during World War II. They developed a formulation for cyanoacrylates but rejected it for use in gun sights because it was too sticky.
At Eastman Kodak, Coover and a colleague (Fred Joyner) discovered that cyanoacrylate had commercial potential in 1951. After testing hundreds of compounds, Dr. Coover and his colleague Fred Joyner found that the lenses were not detachable when they spread the 910th compound, cyanoacrylate, between two lenses. They developed the formula for sale as an adhesive, which was first sold as “Eastman #910” in 1958.
- MICROWAVE OVEN
Percy Spencer was an engineer at Raytheon in 1945, when he noticed that a candy bar in his pocket began to melt while he was working near the magnetrons that created microwaves. Spencer later patented the invention together with Raytheon. Spencer built the first microwave after two years and launched it for commercial use after two years. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1999.
- THE PACEMAKER
Wilson Greatbatch designed the first practical implantable pacemaker working as an assistant professor of electrical engineering at the University of Buffalo. While constructing a heart rhythm recording device, he used the wrong-sized resistor and created the first practical implantable pacemaker. The oscillator required a 10 KΩ resistor, but Greatbatch misread the color coding and got a 1 MΩ resistor instead. The new circuit produced intermittent electrical pulses, rather than continuous pulses, and Greatbatch immediately realized the device could drive a human heart. Veterans Administration hospital doctors demonstrated that this two cubic inch device could control a dog’s heartbeat on May 7, 1958.
- PENICILLIN
Sir Alexander Fleming, a Scottish bacteriologist at St. Mary’s Hospital, introduced penicillin to cure bacterial infections. According to a legend, Dr. Fleming noticed that a mould called “Penicillium notatum” had contaminated his Petri dishes after returning from a summer vacation on September 3, 1928. The story is only partly true, however.
Fleming did notice a mould growing in a petri dish that prevented the growth of bacteria, however, it was not immediately apparent to him that the mould was useful. This is because he didn’t know precisely why bacteria weren’t growing. It took around 14 years – and the effort of many researchers – to isolate the active agent that prevented bacteria from growing – penicillium – and to make enough to use.
Albert Alexander was a policeman with an uncontrollable bacterial infection after being scratched by a rose. He was the first person treated with penicillin in 1941. Despite a dramatic response to penicillin, he relapsed ten days later.
- DYNAMITE
Alfred Nobel, a Swedish chemist and engineer, dedicated his life to the study of explosives. He attempted to stabilize nitroglycerin, a highly unstable and explosive chemical. To make nitroglycerine easier to handle, Nobel realized it must be absorbed by some kind of porous material. A type of porous, absorbent sand or diatomaceous earth was found nearby the place he was staying in Germany. In the “Kieselguhr”, nitroglycerine forms a stable paste that can be safely kneaded, shaped, transported and even ignited without triggering an explosion.
In 1867, he patented his product. Dynamite was soon used in blasting tunnels, cutting canals, building railways and roads, and also in warfare. Nobel established the Nobel Prize in his will in November 1895 to promote world peace.
- THE X-RAY
Undoubtedly, the discovery of the X-ray was a breakthrough in medicine. Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen deserves credit for the discovery. He noticed a glow coming from a nearby chemically coated screen while testing whether cathode rays could pass through glass.
He discovered that the mysterious light would pass through most substances, but leave shadows of solid objects. Since he did not know what the rays were, he called them “X-rays”.
The discovery of X-rays by Roentgen enabled him to see the bones and tissues beneath human tissue. In 1897, doctors used X-rays to detect bullets and broken bones inside patients during the Balkan war.
- TEFLON
Chemist Roy J. Plunkett was involved in the research of Freon refrigerants. Tetrafluoroethylene gas (TFE) was produced by Plunkett and stored in small cylinders at dry-ice temperatures before being chlorinated. He discovered that a frozen canister had spontaneously polymerized into a white, waxy solid to form polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).
Plunkett was fascinated by the mysterious chemical and began categorizing its properties. He realized the TFE had polymerized to produce this substance – later named Teflon. DuPont assigned other teams to investigate the substance, and Plunkett was transferred to DuPont’s tetraethyl lead division, which made the additive which was used to increase gasoline octane for many years.
- THE POPSICLE
Frank Epperson, a 11 year-old boy, mixed soda powder and water with a wooden stirrer one night in 1905. The California native left the glass outside in the cold overnight. In the morning, he noticed that the soda mixture was frozen solid.
He removed the ice pop from the class by running the glass under hot water and using the stick as a handle. When Frank came up with this great idea, he named the treats “Epsicles” and started selling them around town.
“Popsicle” is actually a brand name, but frozen juice on a stick is known by different names around the world. It’s called a popsicle in the USA, but an ice lolly in England, icy poles in New Zealand and freeze pop in Ireland.
- STAINLESS STEEL
Arms manufacture increased dramatically in the UK in the years immediately before the First World War, but practical difficulties were encountered due to erosion (excessive wear) of the inner surfaces of gun barrels. Brearley began researching new steels that could better resist erosion (rather than corrosion which was a common misconception) caused by high temperatures. As chromium was known to raise steel’s melting point, he began to examine what would happen if chromium was added to steel.
A 20th-century arms manufacturer hired metallurgist Harry Bearly to create rust-resistant gun barrels. On the side, he conducted a few experiments of his own. After the metal held up against corrosives such as lemon juice, he saw the potential for food-grade silverware and the elimination of the nightly routine of washing, polishing and putting away silverware. However, stainless steel appliances were still a bit out of his league.
- RADIOACTIVITY
Henri Becquerel and Mother Nature are both to be commended for this success. In 1896, the chemist was trying to make fluorescent materials produce X-rays through sunlight. There was a week of clouds and overcast, so he left the supplies in his drawer. He opened the drawer and found the uranium rock he was using imprinted on a nearby photographic plate- all without any exposure to light.
Cathode ray fluorescence was the focus of Becquerel’s research. There were some uranium salts next to the photographic plates by chance. Despite being protected from sunlight, the plates appeared to be exposed later on. A photographic plate marked by uranium salts was found emitting a ‘penetrating radiation’. This radiation was proved to be new and not X-ray radiation as per further studies.
- POTATO CHIPS AND FRENCH FRIES
During the summer of 1853, a customer at Moon’s Lake House in Saratoga Springs, New York, ordered French fries. As a chef at that hotel, Crum served his standard thick-cut French fries to his customers with a fork. However, the customer complained that they were extremely thick and soggy. The ‘Gordon Ramsay’ of his day, George Crum was easily angered but resourceful. He made another batch of thinner French Fries to satisfy the customer, but he again complained that they were too thick and refused them. After becoming frustrated with his annoying customer, this time he decided to teach him a lesson and made another batch, cutting the potatoes thin so that they were difficult to eat with a fork and heavily salting them. He was surprised when the customer loved them and asked for more, as did other diners. As a result of a complaint from an annoying customer and an act of mischief by George Crum, the invention “Potato Chip” was born. Moon’s Lake House served potato chips called “Saratoga Chips”.
- ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS
Even though you should always wash your hands before eating, there are instances where a bathroom break would change history. If chemist Constantin Fahlberg had washed his hands before dinner in 1879, it would have removed all the coal tar from his skin. He would not have tasted how sweet his food was due to the saccharin in the tar. (This is the exception, though- please exercise good health and grooming habits.)
Sugar substitutes – such as high-intensity sweeteners – have many times the sweetness of sucrose, common table sugar. Therefore, much less sweetener is required, and the energy contribution is often negligible. These compounds cause a different sweet sensation than sucrose (the sweetness profile), so they are often used in complex mixtures to achieve the most intense sweetness.
A bulking agent may be needed if sucrose (or other sugar) has contributed to the texture of the product. Soft drinks or sweet teas labelled as “diet” or “light” often contain artificial sweeteners and often have an unusual “mouthfeel”, or table sugar replacements containing maltodextrins and an intense sweetener to achieve a pleasing texture.
- SLINKY
Richard James, a naval mechanical engineer stationed at the William Cramp & Sons shipyards in Philadelphia, developed springs that could stabilize sensitive instruments aboard ships during rough seas in 1946. During World War II, Richard James tried using springs to keep sensitive instruments steady. But when he dropped one of the springs, it landed upright and recoiled on its own – much to James’ amusement. During the next year or so, James experimented with different types of steel wire, and eventually discovered one that would “walk” on its own. His wife, Betty, was hesitant to admit its potential, but after the toy was fine-tuned and neighbourhood children expressed excitement about it, she changed her mind. The toy was dubbed Slinky (meaning “sleek and graceful”) after she found the word in a dictionary and decided that it aptly described the sound of a metal spring expanding and collapsing.
- COCA COLA
Pemberton, a Civil War veteran who achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, suffered a sabre wound to his chest at the Battle of Columbus in April 1865 and soon became addicted to morphine. Chemist Pemberton tried several opium-free alternative painkillers and experimented with coca and cola wines until he discovered a recipe containing extracts of cola nuts and damiana that had a taste which was not heard of before.
Using flowery rhetoric, he described his new invention as a “valuable brain tonic” that would cure headaches, relieve exhaustion and calm nerves. As a medicine, he called it “delicious, refreshing, pure joy, exhilarating and invigorating”. He named his accidental product “Pemberton’s French Wine Coca”.
Pemberton’s product became an instant success, but due to growing public concern over an alcohol addiction, he changed the recipe to make it non-alcoholic and blended the base syrup with carbonated water, which was also an accident.
Incorporating the names Coca and Cola into the composition of this new beverage, he called it “Coca-Cola”. Another factor for its global success was the fact that General Eisenhower ordered millions of Coca-Cola bottles for American soldiers fighting the Germans in North Africa during the 2nd World War. 200 years after Coca-Cola had last been marketed as a medicinal product, there is some empirical evidence from researchers and doctors that it has some inherent health benefits.
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