20 World-Changing Discoveries Made By Complete Accident

But surprisingly frequently, world-changing innovation comes from a lucky accident, provided the right person is there to realize the accident's implications.

In some cases, a clumsy spill or drop led to the creation of some new substance. In others, unclean or unsafe lab practices revealed the hidden properties of something.

And sometimes, a researcher (or even a schoolteacher) looked at something in the world around them and realized that it could be repurposed to great utility and frequently, great profit.

With a prepared mind, researchers can turn what they accidentally observed into something useful. Here are 20 such discoveries.

Randy Astaiza contributed to an earlier version of this post.