Special+Topic

toc 1. The discovery of Penicillin – Alexander Fleming was culturing plates of //Staphylococcus// bacteria to study the flu. One day he noticed a plate he had accidentally left open. The plate had been invaded by a blue-green mold. He noticed a ring of inhibited bacterial growth around the fungus. The fungus was //Penicillium notatum//, and the antibacterial agent being secreted was dubbed Penicillin. [|http://acswebcontent.acs.org/landmarks/landmarks/penicillin/discover.html] 2. The discover y of Teflon – Roy Plunkett was attempting to synthesize a new CFC refrigerant. During the process, he saw that the perfluorethylene had polymerized in its container, producing Teflon.
 * Serendipitious Discovery ** Serendipitous Discoveries in Science

[|http://www.chemheritage.org/classroom/chemach/plastics/plunkett.html]

3. The discovery of Rayon, artificial easier – Hilaire de Chardonnet was assisting Louis Pasteur in attempting to save the French silk industry from an epidemic affecting silkworms. While working in the darkroom, he spilled some collodion (a chemical used in photography). He left the spill to clean up another time. When he returned, he noticed that the collodion had become viscous due to the partial evaporation of the solvent. While wiping it up, he noticed long thin strands resembling silk. His desire to save the silk industry was enough to encourage him to further investigate this material. [|http://www.thebakken.org/education/scimathmn/polymers-serendipity/polymer1.htm#Rayon] 4. The discovery of X-rays - Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen was experimenting with cathode ray tubes. These tubes are filled with a special gas and a high electric voltage run through them, producing fluorescent light. He covered the tubes with heavy black shielding, and noticed that light could still be seen on a screen a few feet away. Through further testing, he found that these invisible rays could pass through most mediums and cast a shadow of solid objects on film. [|http://www.ndt-ed.org/EducationResources/HighSchool/Radiography/discoveryxrays.htm] 

5. The discovery of the structure of Benzene. Although scientists were aware of benzene’s empirical formula for many years, no scientist was able to characterize benzene’s polyunsaturated and cyclic nature. Some of the proposed benzene structures include the following: and. In 1865, a German scientist named Kekule proposed the model of benzene we know today, although he did not take resonance into account. In many ways, the discovery of the structure of benzene led to the furthering of organic chemistry, and it gave us greater understanding of resonance and aromaticity. ([]) --

Saumil Jariwala
6. Using Microwaves as a cooking apparatus - Percy Spencer of Raytheon Company realized that a candy bar in his pocket had melted after he had been standing in front of a magnetron (power tube of a radar set). He "replicated" the experiment by retrieving a bag of unpopped popcorn kernels, and noted that they popped. After confirming the power of the radar tubes, Spencer worked with Raytheon Company to develop radar boxes which he dubbed a microwave oven. The invention has since been refined to become smaller and more efficient. -

Shalini
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7. Dr. Jason L. Rasgon’s group at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health was trying to infect mosquitoes with bacteria, but instead, he found a new virus that infects the world’s most dangerous mosquito. It was identified by chance when he conducted a screening to find strains of bacteria that infect mosquito cells. A scientist noticed an artifact and decided to track it down, and it turned out to be a mosquito-specific virus. This virus, AgDNV, is a densovirus, which is able to be transmitted from adult female mosquitoes to larvae. It only consists of 4,000 to 6,000 base pairs, which is smaller than the average single human gene and makes it possible for scientists to replace it entirely with a gene for another protein, such as an insecticide, which can potentially wipe out a population of malaria-carrying mosquitoes. This serendipitous discovery of the densovirus opens up a new path to slow the spread of malaria. -

Sarah
http://media.www.jhunewsletter.com/media/storage/paper932/news/2008/09/11/Science/Virus.Could.Kill.MalariaCarrying.Mosquitoes-3431178.shtml

8. The Discovery of Interferon - [|Yasu-ichi Nagano]     and      [|Yasuhiko Kojima],  researchers at Tokyo University in 1954, were studying viruses in rabbits and found that a natural protein made the rabbits resistant to subsequent viral infection. In 1957, Scottish virologist Alick Issacs and Swiss scientist Jean Lindenmann found that when they injected influenza virus into chick embryos, the protein produced by the cells destroyed the virus. The protein also inhibited the growth of other viruses in the embryos. Isaacs and Lindenmann named the protein interferon because of its ability to interfere with virus replication. [|www.natural**interferon**.com/images/Backgrounder_**interferon**.pdf] --

Eugene Wong
9. While attempting to discover new treatments for gastric ulcers, Jim Schlatter discovered the popular sweetener Aspartame, also known as Equal™. While synthesizing certain tetrapeptides found in the stomach, Schlatter got a transitional compound on his fingers. Later, Schlatter licked his finger and noticed that it was sweet. He knew that it couldn’t be food that he had eaten earlier, because he washed his hands after eating. Because the products that made up the new, sweet product were made of natural amino acids, he decided to taste the material to test it. Indeed, it turned out to be very sweet, and eventually the substance became a well-known artificial sweetener. -

Ashley
http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/aspartame/aspartamej.html

10. Discovery of Nitrous Oxide (laughing gas) The anesthetic laughing gas, or nitrous oxide, was observed to both alter behavior and dull pain in those who inhale the gas by the British chemist Humphry Davy. He tested the properties of the gas on himself and his friends, discovering its sensation-dulling effects. "//I am sure the air in heaven must be this wonder working gas of delight,//" Wrote one of Davy’s poet friends about the effects of nitrous oxide. Now laughing gas is generally used in dentistry and other medical procedures in order to reduce the sensation of pain generally experienced during those procedures.

Stefanie
http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/n2o/n2oc.htm

11. Discovery of Gelignite

The discovery of gelignite was made by Alfred Nobel in 1875, not long after he invented dynamite. Gelignite, otherwise known as blasting gelatin, is an explosive substance made up of gun cotton which is dissolved in nitroglycerine and mixed with either sodium nitrate or potassium nitrate and wood pulp. A very cheap explosive, it can also be stored easily and safely without the problem of leaking nitroglycerine, which exists in dynamite. Gelignite’s properties make it very useful for terrorist organizations such as the IRA and PIRA. [] -

Anku Madan
12. Discovery of Weatherproof Synthetic Rubber by Goodyear

The rubber industry was in engaged in an intensive search for cheap, durable, weatherproof, and easily synthesized rubber. Charles Goodyear in the winter of 1839 was desperate for a discovery, and it came unexpectedly. He was enthusiastically demonstrating his newest gum-and-sulphur combination at a local general store when the piece accidentally flew out of his hand and onto a hot potbellied stove. The piece, instead of turning liquid, formed into a new, previously unidentified solid that had turned into a dry, springy gum elastic. He had discovered weatherproof rubber, and this discovery is often cited as one of history's most celebrated accident. http://www.goodyear.com/corporate/history/history_story.html -

Nikita
13. Discovery of Vaccination for Disease Prevention

In 1879, Louis Pasteur injected some chickens with cholera bacteria. It was supposed to kill them; however, Pasteur or one of his assistants had accidentally used a culture from an old jar, and the chickens merely got sick and recovered. Later on, Pasteur injected them again with a fresh culture that he knew to be "fresh", so to speak, and the chickens didn't even get sick. This led to the serendipitous discovery of the principle of vaccination for disease prevention. -

Akash
14. Discovery of bioelectricity by Louis Galvani He was dissecting a frog at a table where he had been conducting experiments with static electricity. His assistant touched an exposed sciatic nerve of the frog with a metal scalpel which had picked up a charge. At that moment, they saw sparks and the dead frog's leg kick as if in life. The observation made Galvani the first investigator to appreciate the relationship between electricity and animation — or life. This finding provided the basis for the current understanding that electrical energy (carried by ions), and not air or fluid, is the impetus behind muscle movement. -

Akhil
In 1895, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen was studying the passage of electric current through an extremely low pressure gas system. During this he discovered that the rays would become fluorescent when a barium coated plate was placed in between the rays. Then he stuck a hand in the path of the rays and the plate, when this happened he could see an image of the bones of the hand. He discovered X-Rays. For this he won the first Nobel Prize for physics in 1901.

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 * Jessica**