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Isaac Asimov said, “The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka!” but “That’s funny!” Throughout the history of science, careful observations and detailed characterizations of accidental reactions, unexpected products, or failed experimental waste, led to discoveries that changed the world. 
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| Alexander Fleming generally gets credit for the discovery of penicillin when he famously noticed that mold growth on his petri dishes inhibited the growth of nearby bacteria. But Fleming was never able to extract any penicillin in usable quantities in his lab. Ten years later, a pharmacologist and a team of chemists (yes chemists!) figured out a way to purify penicillin in usable quantities. Finally, in 1944 Margaret Hutchinson Rousseau, a chemical engineer, converted the purification process into a full-scale production.
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| In fact, the entire modern chemical industry owes itself to one of these accidental discoveries. In the 19th century there was a new kind of waste called coal tar that was left over from turning coal into gaslight. August Wilhelm von Hoffman had an idea to investigate the usefulness of coal tar. He directed an 18-year-old chemist, William Perkin, to try to convert coal tar into quinine. Quinine was in high demand because it could be used to fight malaria, but at the time it was only found in the bark of trees found in the Andes.
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| Perkin’s attempts did not result in the product he was looking for but persistence and careful observations paid off in a surprising way! His first attempts to carry out the reaction produced a red-brown precipitate instead of the hoped for white crystalline product of quinine. After changing one of the reactants, he tried the reaction again this time forming a black residue. Then he tried to isolate the black residue by adding alcohol. When he did, the black residue transformed into a deep purple. He took this purple pigment and applied it to his sister’s white silk blouse. In 1868, he patented the violet dye, which came to be known as mauve.
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