Unexpected inventions by serendipity, error, or exaptation

Serendipity is the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.  An invention that follows the term serendipity is potato chips.  George “Speck” Crum was frustrated with complaints about his thick cut French fried potatoes, so he cut them as thinly as he could, fried them, and covered them with a lot of salt (Breyer, 2017).  He did not anticipate that his patrons, and the rest of the world would enjoy his new snack creation.  

An error is simply defined as a mistake.  An example of an invention that was found in error was the color mauve.  Mauve was created in error by a teenage chemistry student, William Perkins, who mixed tree bark and coal tar to create the color (Accidental scientific discoveries and breakthroughs, 2020).  Personally, I felt that the rage that followed mauve in the 80’s was another error.  Does anyone else remember the rage around the color combination mauve and country blue?  I do, and unfortunately, my mom was a strong follower of this 80’s color craze. 

Mauve bedroom, from http://vintagegoodness.blogspot.com/2011/07/vintage-80s-home-decorating-trends.html

Exaptation is a shift in the function of a trait during evolution.  One example is the company GroundProbe, who created a short-range radar technology that has a high level of precision.  The company invented this technology for locating pipes and power cables underground.  However, when it went to market, it was not received well.  Under re-examination, the company found that their technology had other uses, such as monitoring the stability of rock walls in mines (Kastelle, 2015).

 

References

Accidental scientific discoveries and breakthroughs. InterFocus Lab Furniture. (2020, November 23). Retrieved November 7, 2021, from https://www.mynewlab.com/blog/accidental-scientific-discoveries-and-breakthroughs/. 

Breyer, M. (2017, June 5). 10 accidental inventions that changed the world. Treehugger. Retrieved November 7, 2021, from https://www.treehugger.com/accidental-inventions-that-changed-the-world-4864131. 

Kastelle, T. (2015, January 23). Innovation through exaptation. Tim Kastelle. Retrieved November 7, 2021, from https://timkastelle.org/blog/2010/05/innovation-through-exaptation/.