Is necessity always the mother of invention? As you'll discover from these examples, it sometimes happens through luck or just plain chance.

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• X-Rays

  

  This medical miracle started by chance. In 1895, German scientist Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen was working with cathode ray tubes in his laboratory when he noticed a glow coming from a chemically coated screen. He named the radiation causing this glow 'X-rays' because of their unknown properties. He found that the new ray could pass through most objects, including human tissue, but not more solid materials, such as bones or metal. One of Roentgen's early experiments with his discovery was a film of his wife Bertha's hand.

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Did you miss the first installment? That would be a mistake. See Oops! 5 Great Accidental Inventions