Accidental Medical Discoveries: How Tenacity And Poor Dumb Luck Changed The World

Many of the world’s most important and life-saving devices and techniques were often discovered purely by accident. Serendipity, timing, and luck played a part in the discovery of unintentional cures and breakthroughs:

• A plastic shard in an RAF pilot’s eye leads to the use of plastic for the implantable lens.
• The inability to remove a titanium chamber from rabbit’s bone leads to dental implants.
• Viagra was discovered by a group of chemists, working in the lab to find a new drug to alleviate the pain of angina pectoris.
• A stretch of five weeks of unusually warm weather in 1928 played a role in assisting Dr. Alexander Fleming in his analysis of bacterial growth and the discovery of penicillin.
• After studying the effects of the venom injected by the bite of a deadly pit viper snake, chemists developed a groundbreaking drug that works to control blood pressure.

Accidental Medical Discoveries is an entertaining and enlightening look at the creation of 25 medical inventions that have changed the world – unintentionally. The book is presented in a lively and engaging way, and will appeal to a wide variety of readers, from history buffs to trivia fanatics to those in the medical profession.