The Genius Chronicles: 35 Intriguing Facts Behind Remarkable Inventions

Viagra was invented by accident. It was originally developed as a medication used for lowering high blood pressure. It failed to achieve this purpose and was discontinued. When test subjects were asked to return their unused medicine, however, they all refused.

27. Pythagoras invented a practical joke cup that would spill wine all over a person if they filled their cup too much.

28. The U-bend (P-trap without a 90-degree bend) used in toilets and sinks to prevent sewage gasses from entering the house was invented by a man named Thomas Crapper.

29. Nutella was invented during World War 2 when an Italian pastry maker mixed hazelnuts into chocolate to extend his chocolate ration.

30. Punchcards were invented to solve the problem of the 1890 US Census. It took 8 years to process the data of the 1880 census, so Herman Hollerith invented punch cards for tabulation, ushering in the era of data storage, databases, and supercomputers.

Sir Robert Watson-Watt, the inventor of RADAR was caught speeding with a RADAR gun and reportedly said, "'My God if I'd known what they were going to do with it, I'd have never have invented it!"

32. The inventor of the black box only worked on it in secret, and it was originally rejected by the aviation community due to privacy concerns. Before the invention, troubleshooting crashes was extremely difficult, and lessons learned from black boxes have improved airline safety significantly.

33. John Walker created the match by accident in 1826. He was scraping a mixture of dried chemicals off of a stick in his hearth and it caught fire. Against the advice of his friends, he did not patent his idea, leading to others greatly profiting off of his invention.

34. The Japanese carbonated soft drink Ramune was invented in 1884 by the Scottish pharmacist Alexander Cameron Sim. This drink became very popular with the local Japanese after it was advertised in the Tokyo Mainichi Newspaper as a preventative for cholera.

35. Harvey Ross Ball invented the yellow Smiley Face in 1963. It was intended to be morale-boosting for insurance companies. He was paid $45 for 10 minutes of work.