7 Completely Accidental World Changing Scientific Discoveries

Shatter Proof Glass

This is an interesting confluence of events of how one accident prevented countless more and all because a French chemist, Edouard Benedictus, was on a ladder reaching for something on a high shelf and not paying attention to his surroundings.

While reaching for this serendipitous object, Benedictus accidentally knocked over a glass flask. Upon hearing it shatter as it hit the floor he was no doubt expecting to turn to see shards of glass strewn across his laboratory floor, but this was far from the case. The flask had broken for sure, but the broken pieces still stuck together and roughly in its original shape.

His assistant would then inform him that the flask had contained a solution of cellulose nitrate, a sort of liquid plastic, that had evaporated and left a thin film on the inside. After experimenting with this plastic coated glass for only a mere 24 hours, Benedictus had successfully produced his first piece of Triplex, what we now know as shatter proof (or safety) glass.

Around the same time, automobiles had been recently introduced to the streets of Paris and accidents were a common occurrence. The same week he made his discovery had read a newspaper report on how automobile accidents were made worse by flying shards of glass from broken windshields. The rest is history.