11 Scientific Discoveries That Were Total Accidents

If necessity is the mother of invention, then serendipity is probably the father.

Many of our greatest inventions throughout history seem to have come into existence by chance, accident or sheer dumb luck. It just goes to show how easy it is to ignore a brilliant idea until it's staring you right in the face.

Everybody knows the now almost mythologised story of Alexander Flemming's discovery of Penicillin (which won't be showing up in this list, don't worry), but it turns out that he's not alone in making ground-breaking discoveries completely by accident. Although it would seem that the Flemming story might gloss over some of the more complicated aspects of that particular discovery, but never mind that now.

If history is to be believed, most scientists are just bumbling around their labs until a miracle occurs, like in the famous Sidney Harris cartoon. To be fair to the poor dears, when you're spending your time pushing the boundaries of scientific knowledge, it is very difficult to figure out what you're looking for until it appears.

In fact, it probably happens even more than we'd even know, but most scientists have got the brains to keep their mouths shut a pretend that it's what they intended to do all along.

The Graham Cracker, popular in America as a base to the melty, marshmallowy goodness of s'mores, was originally invented by the boot-faced, fun-hating presbyterian minister, Sylvester Graham.

Far from its sweetly cinnamony modern cousin, the original Graham crackers were actually intended to prevent masturbation and other forms of "self-abuse" - although it's not exactly clear how. Seeing as masturbation and sexual urges were seen as the cause of a great many undesirable characteristics, ranging from rolled shoulders to blindness, Graham felt duty bound to put a stop to it.

One of Grahams theories is that eating bland food would curb sexual appetite. Graham himself ate a practically vegan diet, with very limited amounts of butter and as little flavouring as possible (sounds like a hoot) and the original crackers were similarly tough, bland and joyless. Kellog's cornflakes were also invented with a similar purpose in mind.

Luckily, the fun police lost the battle against self-love and the Graham Cracker evolved into the sugary goodness that it is today.