Accidental Medical Discoveries: How Tenacity and Pure Dumb Luck Changed the World
- ISBN-10
- 151071247X
- ISBN-13
- 9781510712478
- Category
- Science
- Pages
- 288
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2016-11-22
- Publisher
- Simon and Schuster
- Author
- Robert W. Winters
Description
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.
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Other editions
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- 2016-11-22
- 288 pages
- Paperback
- Skyhorse
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