| Contents |
Archimedes--the first streaker -- Columbus discovers a new world -- A sick Indian discovers Quinine -- Sir Isaac Newton, the apple, and the law of gravitation -- The electric battery and electromagnetism--from a frog's leg and a compass -- Vaccination--Edward Jenner, a milkmaid, and smallpox -- Discoveries of chemical elements -- Nitrous oxide and ether as anesthetics -- Wöhler's synthesis of urea--organic chemistry begins to make sense -- Daguerre and the invention of photography -- Rubber--natural and unnatural -- Pasteur--"left-handed" and "right-handed" molecules make a difference -- Synthetic dyes and pigments -- Kekulé: molecular architecture from dreams -- Nobel: the man, the discoveries, and the prizes -- Celluloid and rayon--artificial ivory and silk -- Friedel and Crafts--a laboratory accident spawns new industrial chemistry -- How to succeed in archaeology without really trying -- Some astronomical serendipities -- Accidental medical discoveries -- X rays, radioactivity, and nuclear fission -- Substitute sugar: how sweet it is--and non-fattening -- Safety glass -- Antibiotics: penicillin, sulfa drugs, and magainins -- Nylon: cold-drawing does the trick -- Polyethylene: thanks to leaky and dirty equipment -- Teflon: out of the atom bomb and into the frying pan -- Gasoline technology: flowery theories and gas to gasoline -- Drugs accidentally found good for something else -- Drugs from sewage and dirt -- Brown and Wittig: boron and phosphorus in organic synthesis -- Polycarbonates: tough stuff -- Velcro and other gifts of serendipity to modern living -- DNA: the coil of life -- Conceptions, misconceptions, and accidents in organic synthesis -- Chemical crowns and crypts -- How accidents become discoveries. |
