Thursday 29 March 2012

Seek and You Shall Find... Something Else Entirely!


Throughout history there have been many instances of interesting discoveries made by people who were searching for something else entirely. So imagine the disappointment of chemist Constantin Fahlberg who, instead of finding new uses for coal tar, had to settle for discovering saccharin, an artificial sweetener now used in millions of products around the world. Here is a list of other such examples.

Who: Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus
Looking for: A new route to India
Instead found: The American Continent
Columbus had propositioned a few of heads of state for financing for a planned expedition to India. He promised them the ability to establish a trade route there by travelling west from Europe, not east as the European merchants at the time previously had to do. Even though everyone thought he was crazy the Catholic authorities on the Iberian landmass were desperate to gain a competitive advantage over other nations in Europe. Columbus' calculations relied on many incorrect assumptions, including the idea that Japan was many miles further east of China than it actually was, that the Earth was smaller than it actually was, and that the European landmass was larger than it really was. Despite all of these clearly wrong calculations Spain agreed to a list of rewards Columbus would receive if he succeeded, and agreed to furnish him a small fleet of ships for the expedition. Of course the monarchs generally did not expect him to return. On September 1492 Columbus set sail west from the Canary Islands for, what he thought was Asia. Five weeks later a lookout spotted land. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Who: DuPont chemist Roy Plunkett
Looking for: A new chlorofluorocarbon refrigerant
Instead found: white flakes that lead to the invention of Teflon
As Roy Plunkett, a young DuPont chemist, was working on a new chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) he considered that there was a possibility he could achieve the break through he wanted by making a compound called TFE react with Hydrochloric acid. In preparation, he collected all the TFE gas he required then cooled it and pressured it into canisters. Later on, when it came time to retrieve the gas from the canister it seemed to have disappeared. Plunkett shook the canister and out came small white flakes, which other scientists developed into what is now commonly known as Teflon.

Who: chemist Leo Hendrik Baekeland
Looking for: A cheaper insulation for electronics
Instead found: Bakelite, a material from which today's plastic is derived
In 1907 Baekeland discovered a material that was moldable and that could resist high temperatures without distorting. He stumbled upon this while trying to develop a cheap alternative material to Shellac, which at the time was the material of choice for electrical insulation. He called the new found material 'Bakelite', and suggested initially that it could be used for phonograph records. Soon afterwards it rapidly became apparent that bakelite had many possible uses.

Who: American engineer Wilson Greatbatch
Looking for: A circuit to record fast heartbeats
Instead found: The pacemaker
As Greatbatch was sitting at his desk one day trying to build a circuit that would record fast heartbeat sounds he reached into a box to grab a resistor and instead of pulling out the 10000 ohm resistor that he needed accidentally pulled out a 1 million ohm resistor. Without realising his mistake Greatbatch proceeded to add it to the circuit. The resulting output was instantly recognisable - the circuit pulsed for 1.8 milliseconds, stopped for 1 second and then repeated - a human heartbeat.

Who: chemist William Perkin
Looking for: A cure for malaria
Instead found: Synthetic dye
As Perkin, who was just 18 years old at the time, was attempting to develop an artificial quinine he noticed that his results wound up as a thick, murky colourful mess. He noticed that the mess had more brightness and vibrance than colour dyes that came from nature and thus realised that it could make a perfect dye. He also found that it didn't fade or wash out over time. Perkin's new synthetic dye has been used in applications ranging from fashion to microbiology.

Who: Muhammed edh-Dhib and Jum'a Muhammad
Looking for: a lost goat
Instead found: the dead sea scrolls
The account of the discovery of the dead sea scrolls comes to us from a series of interviews with Bedouin conducted by John C Trever and also an interview with Muhammed edh-Dhib by J.F. Docmac and Anton Kiraz. In 1947, while staying in Bethlehem, Jum'a Muhammad, a young Bedouin shepherd, noticed some holes and decided to throw a rock into them. He discovered that they were large enough to fit a person. Muhammed edh-Dhib, Jum'a's cousin fell into one and came back out with scrolls he had found inside. These were the first of the dead sea scroll discoveries. Later on many more scrolls, from over 11 caves would be discovered in the same general area. The knowledge gained from these scrolls would eventually go on to further scholarly understanding of traditional Christian history and Judaic history.

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