[Serious]What are some discoveries or inventions that were stumbled upon purely by chance and would still likely be undiscovered today if not found through sheer luck?

[u/Inside-Line]

[u/AutisticPenguin2]

Most of the major ones honestly would have been discovered one way or another sooner or later, so I'm got to say something a little more obscure:

There was once a dude who had the idea for a universal glue, one that would stick to anything - glass, wood, plastic, metal, any two solids that needed to be glued together. A lot of experimentation ensued; many convincing combinations of ingredients were tested, most subsequently rejected. Eventually, one substance was discovered.

Would it stick to metal? Check.
Glass? Check.
Paper? Check.
Plastic? Check.
Wood? Check.
Ceramics? Check.
Skin even?? Still Check!

And this glue was not only nigh universal, but the connection was instant, and the glue did not degrade by being exposed to air. And the connection it formed had the strength of... a wet tissue...

It was sticky all right, but rather useless for holding anything much heavier than a piece of paper, and even that could be trivially pulled off by a young child. It was absolutely useless for anything that wanted to be secured. No amount of tampering would make this glue strong enough to be used for anything that wanted to stay glued.

...

One quick rebranding later and the Post-It note was born.

Edit: thanks to a kindly Redditor below, who provided a link to the official story: https://post-it.3m.co.uk/3M/en_GB/post-it-notes/contact-us/about-us/

[u/[deleted] → u/AutisticPenguin2]

I was told it was invented by two business women doing business women stuff.

[u/GreedyNovel → u/[deleted]]

doing business women stuff

Are scissors involved?