History Main / AccidentalDiscovery

[[caption-width-right:349:Thank you apples, for helping UsefulNotes/IsaacNewton give us gravity. [[note]][[https://tomfonder.deviantart.com/art/Happy-Jar-Newton-s-Theory-265033667 Image]] by [[https://tomfonder.deviantart.com tomfonder.]][[/note]]]]

Sometimes, accidents happen. But then there are times when a coincidence is just enough to create a scientific breakthrough, an amazing invention, an unprecedented discovery or something else that it's actually benefiting society.

It's a popular trope in comedy. A clumsy professor falls, drops something or makes a mistake, causing an unexpected discovery to occur. Just as often it's his bumbling assistant. Or just one of the protagonists, usually the stupid one. In some cases this accident turns out bad and causes a FreakLabAccident. But in this case it actually turns out for the better! Another great scientific leap has been made and all due to something that seemed to be a mistake or an unintentional event.

** In Biblical times, two guys discover it, and want to show it to Noah, but [[GreatFlood they decide to wait for it to stop raining.]]

* ''Manga/AsteroidInLove'': In Chapter 2, Mira collects several stones from the riverbank. Mira accidentially breaks one of the rocks (a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudstone mudstone]]) to reveal a fossil, much to the excitement of Mikage, the local geology nut.

** A lot of the unique behaviours of the sea otter (such as swimming on their backs, wrapping themselves in kelp while sleeping to keep from drifting away (and holding hands with each other when there are no kelp), using rocks to break shells to eat their food, etc.) aren't actually added by the designers, but springs from the creature's own adaptive capabilities as a poor swimmer that has developed a taste for seafood thanks to Jupiter feeding it urchins, lobster and the like during lunch.
** When Jupiter and Neptune get into a design battle to develop the penguin, many of Jupiter's suggestion are just him doing the exact opposite of Neptune, but a lot of the features he come up with (such as the penguin's barbed tongue, its ability to thermoregulate, and using snot to excrete salt water after swimming) proves to be more feasible than Neptune's suggestions.

* ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'': Bouncing Boy got his powers this way. When he was a pre-teen, he worked as an errand boy for a DitzyGenius scientist, and was told to deliver a new formula. On the way, he went to a sports arena to watch fighting robot gladiators, bought a soft drink, mistook it for the formula, and drank the formula by accident. (Unfortunately, he then proceeded to accidentally bounce onto the field, disrupting the event.)

* ''Fanfic/AGameForTheFool'': Due to being barely being taught the very basics of cultivation when his parents died, Wei Wuxian unintentionally devises a powerful cultivation method based on the little information he knew about the original canon combined with the Video Game Mechanics of the System. It isn’t until Lotus Pier that he learns that he is ahead of most of his age mates and becomes the youngest person to have a Golden Core at age 10.

** His jerky movements due to his legs being in braces inspire Music/ElvisPresley to invent his famous 'hip shaking'.

** Dr. Brainard admits that he invented his artificially intelligent robot sidekick Weebo by accident, and that even today he has no idea how Weebo achieved true intelligence and free will. [[spoiler:Turns out Weebo had been doing research into her creation on her own, and managed to come up with a design that allowed Brainard to create a second intelligent robot.]]
** Flubber itself was invented by accident. Brainard was trying to come up with a new kind of energy reactor, and instead got an (apparently alive) substance that can apparently ''increase'' its kinetic energy after bouncing off a surface.
* ''Film/{{Primer}}'': The film starts with a group of nerds making computer parts out of their garage until deciding to try making a better cooling system for refrigerators. In the process they accidentally build an anti-gravity device which then leads to accidentally discovering it can be used for time travel.

* ''Film/UpTheChastityBelt'': While attempting to cure Sir Coward's intoxication, Lurkalot mixes a medicine consisting of sulphur and charcoal, which then has saltpeter knocked into when he is not looking. When he tosses the resulting concoction on to the brazier, it explodes. Realising he has invented something significant, he names it 'gone powder' because it makes things 'gone'.

** The [=USNA=] government were ripping open a miniature black hole ForScience when the alien species that would later be called "[[HiveMind the Parasites]]" came through it and started brainwashing everybody.

* ''Literature/{{Embassytown}}'': The alien Arieki have a unique language which can only be reproduced by two mouths speaking simultaneously. It is said that this was discovered when human settlers on the planet Arieka tried unsuccessfully to communicate with them; when the humans grew frustrated and started talking over each other, their words happened to overlap and the Arieki finally understood them. However, it is also mentioned that this might just be an urban legend.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "The Hunters", a young boy named Steve is walking through a field when he steps on an area of soft ground and falls through the earth. In the process, he discovers a prehistoric cave which has been undisturbed for 12,000 years. Dr. Klein later describes it as one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the century.

* ''Franchise/{{Tamagotchi}}'': In the series, Professor Banzo discovered the Tamagotchi species of alien by pure chance while he was sulking on a bridge over a date going badly. A Tamagotchi UFO crashed into the river, and the Professor and his assistant Mikachu, who was there to help him cheer up, went to save the creatures from drowing. They then discovered that the aliens couldn't breathe in Earth's atmosphere, so they created little eggshell-like devices to keep them alive; since then, the two have been researching the Tamagotchis, going as far as to visit their planet in their studies.

** The Greek scientist Archimedes provided the world's original EurekaMoment when he was trying to find a way to check whether a golden crown his king received was pure gold or not. As he sat in his bath he noticed that the water level had risen because of his body displacing its water. This, of course, led him to the idea that the crown could be put in water determine its exact volume, then have the same process repeated with a block of pure gold with the same weight as the crown, thus finding out whether the crown was all gold.
** UsefulNotes/IsaacNewton was prompted to thinking about why objects always fall down after seeing an apple fall from a tree, and this concluded with the Law of Universal Gravitation.

** When Will Kellogg once accidentally left some boiled wheat sitting out, it had turned stale by the time he returned. Rather than throw it away, he and his brother John Harvey sent it through rollers, hoping to make long sheets of dough, but they got flakes instead. They toasted the flakes, which were a big hit with patients, and patented them under the name Granose. The brothers experimented with other grains, including corn, thus coining corn flakes.
** During World War II, while attempting to create a synthetic rubber substitute, James Wright dropped boric acid into silicone oil. The result was a polymerized substance that bounced, but it took several years to find a use for the product. Finally, in 1950, marketing expert Peter Hodgson saw its potential as a toy, and renamed it Silly Putty.

** In 1856, 18 year old William Henry Perkin botched a college assignment to synthesize quinine due to impurities but while cleaning the flask with alcohol, he noticed the solution turned purple. By isolating the purple compound, he had created the first synthetic dye, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauveine mauveine]]. The fact that it was {{purple|IsPowerful}} was also a case of great luck since it could only be obtained via a very rare natural dye and thus was limited to royalty in those days.

** The Rubik's Cube was invented partially by accident. Ernő Rubik built the first Rubik's Cube as an engineering experiment in making a structure with rotating sections that overlapped without falling apart when rotated and decided to add colors the different sides in order to keep track of where the different parts had moved to. He realized that he had just invented a puzzle when he discovered how challenging it was to return it back to its original position.

* In 1900, the Russian archaeologist Friedrich Zibold discovered the remains of a mysterious domed structure in the Byzantine Crimean site of Theodosia. After studying the ruins and some terracotta pipes found nearby, he proposed that the structure was an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_well_(condenser) air well]] designed to condensate moisture from the air into water, and built a replica to test it. This replica was successful and became the precursor of modern air wells. However, it was discovered later that the ancient structure was actually a tomb, the pipes were not related to it, Zibold had used the wrong materials for his replica, and weather conditions at the time (which had included thick fog) had exaggerated the results of the experiment. But by sheer coincidence these materials were the right type to make a working air well--had Zibold used the real ones in the tomb his experiment would have been a failure--and had weather conditions been more characteristic of the area (not as much fog), it wouldn't have worked as well as Zibold reported it did. Neither of these problems were discovered until 90 years after Zibold's experiment. In other words, Zibold inadvertently invented a new technology as a result of a failed attempt to replicate a LostTechnology that didn't actually exist in the first place.

[[caption-width-right:349:[[https://tomfonder.deviantart.com/art/Happy-Jar-Newton-s-Theory-265033667 Image]] by [[https://tomfonder.deviantart.com tomfonder.]]]]

** The prevailing academic consensus claims that Taoist alchemists in 9th Century China tried to create a potion of immortality using sulfur, saltpeter, and charcoal; while the potion failed, they invented something very useful - gunpowder.

* ''Literature/Embassytown'': The alien Arieki have a unique language which can only be reproduced by two mouths speaking simultaneously. It is said that this was discovered when human settlers on the planet Arieka tried unsuccessfully to communicate with them; when the humans grew frustrated and started talking over each other, their words happened to overlap and the Arieki finally understood them. However, it is also mentioned that this might just be an urban legend.

* In Chapter 2 of ''Manga/AsteroidInLove'', Mira collects several stones from the riverbank. Mira accidentially breaks one of the rocks (a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudstone mudstone]]) to reveal a fossil, much to the excitement of Mikage, the local geology nut.
* In ''Manga/HeavensDesignTeam'', the designers often come up with many of the useful biological and physiological functions for their animals by throwing in random features on their project and finding a breakthrough here and there.

* ''ComicStrip/{{Nero}}'': One story has boy genius Adhemar discover a miracle cure, but not any disease that would make it useful.
* Bouncing Boy -- from ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'', naturally -- got his powers this way. When he was a pre-teen, he worked as an errand boy for a DitzyGenius scientist, and was told to deliver a new formula. On the way, he went to a sports arena to watch fighting robot gladiators, bought a soft drink, mistook it for the formula, and drank the formula by accident. (Unfortunately, he then proceeded to accidentally bounce onto the field, disrupting the event.)

* In ''Fanfic/AGameForTheFool'', due to being barely being taught the very basics of cultivation when his parents died, Wei Wuxian unintentionally devises a powerful cultivation method based on the little information he knew about the original canon combined with the Video Game Mechanics of the System. It isn’t until Lotus Pier that he learns that he is ahead of most of his age mates and becomes the youngest person to have a Golden Core at age 10.

* Film/ForrestGump does this several times, though he never takes advantage of this himself.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E5TheGreenDeath The Green Death]]", Jo accidentally knocks over a jar of powdered fungus, spilling the contents onto some slides containing samples of tissue infected by a toxin carried by the giant maggots which feature prominently in the story. At first, Cliff Jones (a Nobel Prize-winning scientist turned eco-warrior with whom Jo has fallen in love) is annoyed that his work has been ruined, but when he looks at the slides later, he discovers that the tissue that was exposed to the fungus has died and realises that the fungus can cure the infection.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Tamagotchi}}'' series, Professor Banzo discovered the Tamagotchi species of alien by pure chance while he was sulking on a bridge over a date going badly. A Tamagotchi UFO crashed into the river, and the Professor and his assistant Mikachu, who was there to help him cheer up, went to save the creatures from drowing. They then discovered that the aliens couldn't breathe in Earth's atmosphere, so they created little eggshell-like devices to keep them alive; since then, the two have been researching the Tamagotchis, going as far as to visit their planet in their studies.

* According to logs in the second game, the Portal Gun in the ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' series started out as an attempt at creating a ''shower curtain''. [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext That's about as much sense]] as [[RuleOfFunny anything having to do with Aperture founder Cave Johnson ever makes]].

* In ''VisualNovel/SteinsGate'', the greatest inventions our teenage wannabe MadScientist has come up with include a camera attached to a toy helicopter and a toy lightsaber made of a glowstick and a handle. Then, when trying to create a remotely-operated microwave, he and his friends create a functional time machine.

* In ''WebComic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'', Jean getting her lab experiment accidentally mixed up with Bob's jar of peanut butter in a CrashIntoHello is what results in the creation of Molly the Peanut Butter Monster. This decidedly qualifies as a discovery because the event is replicable: a second creation of the mix by Jean's boss Dean Martin (without the knowledge of either Bob ''or'' Jean) duly results in another "monster", Galatea.
* In ''Webcomic/DriveDaveKellett'', Senior Adviser Cuddow describes the greatest breakthrough made by his people, the Fillipods, in the war against the Vinn (an artificial form of TheVirus), as a silly, accidental invention.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''

* "[[OpeningNarration Sugar, spice, and everything nice...]] these were the ingredients chosen to create the perfect little girls. But Professor Utonium accidentally added an extra ingredient to the concoction... Chemical X! Thus, Franchise/ThePowerpuffGirls were born!"

* Website/FourChan (of course) [[AchievementsInIgnorance accidentally made a major breakthrough]] in a [[https://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/an-anonymous-online-anime-fan-just-solved-a-problem-thats-been-eluding-mathematicians-for-decades/ decades-old mathematical formula]] when an anonymous user posted his proof on /sci/. What was the proof for, you might ask? He was trying to figure out the shortest possible amount of time it would take to watch the first 14 episodes of ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'' in every possible permutation, or what is the shortest superpermutation of of 14 symbols. Mathematicians had found an equation for calculating the shortest possible length of superpermutation, but it wouldn't give the correct answer for superpermutations with greater than 5 symbols. The anonymous poster found and proved that a new equation that they found would give a much closer result for higher numbers.

** The Greek scientist Archimedes provided the world's original EurekaMoment when he was trying to find a way to check whether a golden crown his king received was genuine or fake. As he sat in his bath he noticed that the water level had risen because of his body displacing its water. This, of course, led him to the idea that a golden crown could be put under to determine its exact volume, then have the same process repeated with a real gold crown, thus finding out whether the first crown was all gold.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "The Green Death", Jo accidentally knocks over a jar of powdered fungus, spilling the contents onto some slides containing samples of tissue infected by a toxin carried by the giant maggots which feature prominently in the story. At first, Cliff Jones (a Nobel Prize-winning scientist turned eco-warrior with whom Jo has fallen in love) is annoyed that his work has been ruined, but when he looks at the slides later, he discovers that the tissue that was exposed to the fungus has died and realises the fungus can cure the infection.

** In 1856, 18 year old William Henry Perkin botched a college assignment to synthesize quinine due to impurities but while cleaning the flask with alcohol, he noticed the solution turned purple. By isolating the purple compound, he had created the first synthetic dye: and by sheer luck it was also {{purple|IsPowerful}}, a color only obtained via a very rare natural dye and thus limited to royalty in those days.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "The Green Death", Jo accidentally knocks over a jar of powdered fungus, spilling the contents onto some slides containing samples of tissue infected by a toxin carried by the giant maggots which feature prominently in the story. At first, Cliff Jones (a Nobel Prize-winning scientist turned eco-warrior with whom Jo has fallen in love) is angry that his work has been ruined, but when he looks at the slides later, he discovers that the tissue that was exposed to the fungus has died and realises the fungus can cure the infection.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "The Green Death", Jo accidentally knocks over a jar of powdered fungi, spilling the contents onto some slides containing samples of tissue which have been infected by a toxin carried by the giant maggots which feature prominently in the story. At first, Cliff Jones (a Nobel Prize-winning scientist turned eco-warrior with whom Jo has fallen in love) is angry that his work has been ruined, but when he looks at the slides later, he discovers that the tissue that was exposed to the fungus has died and realises the fungus can cure the infection.

* ''LightNovel/TheIrregularAtMagicHighSchool'':