A Brief History
On March 10, 1535, Tomás de Berlanga, a Spanish Bishop based in Panama, accidentally discovered the Galapagos Islands while sailing to Peru. These beautiful islands were not occupied by humans at the time and seem to never have had human inhabitants. The 18 main islands are famous for their unique species of animals and plants and as the inspiration for Darwin’s theory of evolution.
Digging Deeper
Accidental discoveries have led to great things, including:
In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in the Bahamas, finding the Americas while on his way to East Asia, opening a vast and rich world of land and resources to Europeans.
In 1943, James Wright tried to invent artificial rubber and came up with Silly Putty instead due to an accidental mixture of chemicals.
Some other happy accidents you may not be aware of include the Slinky, Microwave Ovens, Teflon, Velcro, X-rays, and even Viagra!
Question for students (and subscribers): What is the greatest accidental discovery? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
De Roy, Tui. Galápagos: Islands Born of Fire. Princeton University Press, 2010.
Winters, Robert. Accidental Medical Discoveries: How Tenacity and Pure Dumb Luck Changed the World. Skyhorse, 2016.
The featured image in this article, a JPG preview of an an animated tour of the Galápagos by Kevin Ward, is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that “NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted“. (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.)
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.
