Accidental Medical Discoveries: How Tenacity and Pure Dumb Luck Changed the World

By: Robert W. Winters

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Synopsis: 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 contact lenses.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.