All World
Gayatri Pariwar

 Looking at the history of many inventions, it appears that they are mere coincidences. For instance, the invention of X-rays was sudden. Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen didn’t do any special effort for this. One day he was experimenting with discharge tubes. Like any other normal days he connected the ends of the tube with wire and was trying to create electron motion. During this experimentation, astonishingly a discovery happened. Even after covering the tube with thick black cloth, green colored rays emanated on his table. He was startled to find out that these rays could penetrate the solid materials also. He named them X-Rays.

Similarly in 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered Penicillin accidentally.  He left cultures of staphylococci in the dishes uncovered. He usually used to cover the dishes. When he came in the morning he saw growth of fungus all over the dish. Just when he was about to clean the dishes, he noticed some activity in that. He tried to destroy the culture as it had fungus all over.  He isolated an extract from this mould and named it Penicillin. We all know the wonders of Penicillin today.

Revolutionary change in the garment industry due to discovery of artificial colors also seems to be a coincidence. In 1856, 18 year old Chemistry student of British Royal College, Henry William Perkins, was trying to extract synthetic quinine from coal tar. During this he found aniline which is used to dye the clothes. Before this the clothes used to be dyed with extracts from plants and other natural elements. After the discovery of aniline, the commercial dyeing of clothes began.

Jean Baptise Jolly of Paris was working on something when accidentally caffeine fell on his clothes. When he was changing, he noticed that the area where caffeine fell became clean. Based on this, world’s first dry cleaning company was established in 1885.

Henning Brand of Germany was searching for something like Philosopher’s stone which could make him world famous. During the research he tried it by mixing lot of chemicals. During the experimentation he found a white colored substance which burnt vigorously and also shined in the darkness. This was phosphorous.

One more incident is of 1845. Christian Friedrich Schonbein was habitual of working in the kitchen. His wife had prohibited him from entering kitchen because of this. One day when she was not at home he started experimenting in the kitchen. Accidentally he spilled a mixture of nitric acid and sulfuric acid on his wife’s gown. He hung the apron over the stove to dry, but once dry it went poof! It was gone. He had converted the cellulose of the gown into nitrocellulose. The nitro-groups (added from the nitric acid) served as an internal source of oxygen, and when heated the cellulose was completely oxidized, all at once. An explosive Nitrocellulose was discovered during this experimentation. Earlier Gun Powder was used as explosive.

In 1798, A. Senefelder, was sketching some lines with his pencil. He sketched similar lines on a limestone also. He got surprised when water fell on the limestone. The portion which was covered with wax didn’t get wet. This became the principle for Lithographic printing. John Sadler of Liverpool used to give away bad carvings to children for playing. Children used to play with these and ceramics. One day while watching the kids, he got a technique of designing on ceramics and earthen pots. This brought revolution in the printing of designs on ceramics. In another incident non-stick cookware was discovered. Chemists of American company, DuPont, were experimenting on Fluorocarbon gases. During the experiment, chemist Planket was uninterestingly shaking the tetrafluoroethylene gas. From that Teflon chemical got evolved which became instrumental in making a coating for non-stick cookware.

Charles Goodyear was trying to make a tire for heavy vehicles and trucks but his efforts were not being successful. One night in 1839, he left the solution for tire with sulfur. When he came in the morning he got irritated on what he did last night and threw the rubber on the floor. But his happiness had no bounds when he saw that the rubber bounced back. His mistake led to the invention of vulcanized rubber.

Albert Hoffman was a famous Chemist. During summer season in 1938, he was working in his laboratory. The drug he was using in his experiment was accidentally consumed by him. As soon as he slept he went into a different world of dreams. This dangerous drug was very effective in psychoanalysis and proved to be a life saving drug. In 1870, Thomas Adams of America was trying to create a substitute for rubber with Mexican gum. One day he stuck some of the crude gum into his mouth and began to chew it. He liked it. He thus discovered chewing gum.

Similarly lot of research has been done in the field of physics also. Michael Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction, Luigi Galvani’s invention of battery, Archimedes principle, laws of Gravitation etc were discovered while researching on something else. It can be said that these discoveries were the result of the efforts of that person, but why these are associated with few people only; and not with everyone who has been working in the same field. Everybody must have seen apple falling on the ground but why did Newton only take interest in knowing the reason. Was Gautam Buddha the first person to see the corpse? Why did he only become the medium of spreading Spiritual awakening in the world?

Sri Aurobindo says that the creation of world is not a coincidence. It is the result of divine planning. Discoveries and inventions too are results of this. The inception of thoughts takes place in the subtle world. They are manifested in the physical world through human effort. The unimaginable discoveries would not have taken place in this world otherwise. It is possible even today. We can also become the medium of the divinity. We need to continuously think creatively and constructively.