Happy little accidents: From oops to amazing

 Overview

                This research paper will focus on happy little accidents (Ross & Witte, 2017), not Bob Ross’s happy little accidents. Though something similar, this research paper will review game-changing ideas that came about through accidental discovery. The paper will provide a synopsis of how that accident was supported and nourished until it became an awe-inspiring product.

From Accident to Product

                If the big bang theory is accurate, then the universe and all aspects of life as currently know is one happy little accident (Roos, 2014). As a society, people use many products invented primarily through accidents while trying to discover or invent something different. That is no different in the accident that has provided professionals an opportunity to see things internally since the late 1800s.

X-Radiation

                X-Radiation or simply x-ray had been thought to have its earliest discovery in 1785 by Willliam Morgan when he presented a paper to the Royal Society of London describing the effects of electrical currents passing through partially evacuated glass tubes which created a glow (Historydraft, 2021). Even though it was researched further by great men like Sir Humphry Davy and Michael Faraday, it was not until German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen. Röntgen, at the time, was researching the behavior of escaping cathode fluorescent rays (APS Physics, 2001). Röntgen noticed that when he covered Lenard and Crookes vacuum tubes (Historydraft, 2021) with heavy black cardboard, these fluorescent rays were still escaping. Those escaping fluorescent rays were capable of illuminating and irradiate a panel covered in platinobarium on the other side of the room; he termed this phenomena x-ray  (APS Physics, 2001; Historydraft, 2021; Roos, 2014). A brief time after that initial discovery, Röntgen ascertained through discovery that x-rays could be caught on photographic plates. Utilizing his spouse as a test subject, Röntgen placed her hand between the plates and the box. The rays passed through her skin and muscle. People could distinguish and observe elements within the human body's interior devoid of any incision or cutting it open for the first time. On December 28, 1895, Roentgen submitted his first paper on x-rays to the Würzburg Physical-Medical Society journal and sent a letter to several physicians throughout Europe of his findings. However, an x-ray would not be used in clinical conditions until January 1896. In May of that same year Thomas Edison created the first mass produced imaging device initially called the Vitascope, then renamed to fluoroscope which has become the standard for medical x-ray examinations. However, there have been several improvements in terms of the type of tube, hot versus cold, and rotation.

Image captured from Customxray.com

Conclusion

This research paper focused on happy little accidents (Ross & Witte, 2017), not Bob Ross’s happy little accidents. Though something similar, this research paper reviewed game-changing ideas that came about through accidental discovery. The paper provided a synopsis of how that accident was supported and nourished until it became an awe-inspiring product.

 

References

 

APS Physics. (2001, November 2001). This month in physics history: November 8, 1895 - Roentgen's discovery of x-rays. APS News, 10(10). https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200111/history.cfm

 

Historydraft. (2021). Story of x-ray. Historydraft. https://historydraft.com/story/x-ray/timeline/684

 

Roos, D. (2014). 10 of history's happiest accidents. HowStuffWorks. https://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-events/10-history-happiest-accidents.htm

 

Ross, B., & Witte, M. (2017). Happy Little Accidents: The Wit & Wisdom of Bob Ross (Illustrated ed.). Running Press Adult.