Giant steps for Humankind

All these accidental discoveries come from Wired magazine.

Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann took the world's first acid hit in 1943, when he touched a smidge of lysergic acid diethylamide, a chemical he had researched for inducing childbirth. He later tried a bigger dose and made another discovery: the bad trip.

Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming was researching the flu in 1928 when he noticed that a blue-green mold had infected one of his petri-dishes - and killed the staphylococcus bacteria growing in it. All hail sloppy lab work! [I especially like this one]

Microwave emitters (or magnetrons) powered Allied radar in WWII. The leap from detecting Nazis to nuking nachos came in 1946, after a magetron melted a candy bar in Raytheon engineer Percy Spencer's pocket.

In the early 1940s, General Electric scientist James Wright was working on artificial rubber for the war effort when he mixed boric acid and silicon oil. V-J Day didn't come any sooner, but comic strip image-stretching practically became a national pastime [since the resulting goo was named Silly Putty - I can still remember getting the first little plastic egg of the stuff and putting it to good use]

Chef Geoge Crum's concocted the perfect sandwich complement in 1853 when - to spite a customer who complained that his fries were too thick - he sliced a potato paper-thin and fried it to a crisp. Needless to say, the diner couldn't eat just one [it was the first potato chip].

AND MY ALL TIME FAVORITE ACCIDENTAL DISCOVERY!!

Medieval wine merchants used to boil the H2O out of wine so their delicate cargo would keep better and take up less space at sea. Before long, some intrepid soul - our money's on a sailor - decided to bypass the reconstruction stage, and brandy was born. Pass the Courvoisier! [which, by remarkable coincidence, is exactly what I am sipping on at this very moment].

So what are you guys cooking up in your kitchens, workshops, ateliers, etc. ?