Oops, I'm a Millionaire!

Do you believe in fate, or just coincidence? In this post, Sparkler MichaelRyans compiled a list of mistakes that turned out to be successful products. We wonder: Were these "accidents" fated to be? After all, a world without cheese would be a very boring place. —SparkNotes Editors

Here are some of what are, in my opinion, the greatest accidents in history.

Penicillin: What happened is that a man named Alexander Fleming (Eww...his last name sounds grosser than gross) was researching a bacteria called—okay, everybody say it at once—"Staphylococcus."

After coming back from a vacation in 1928, he noticed the glass dish he was trying to grow the bacteria in had mold on it. Oh no! BUT, he also noticed that the weird-named bacteria wasn't able to grow in that mold. What was that strange fungus? Penicillin!

Coca-Cola: One day in May of 1886, a man named John Pemberton made a coca wine but accidentally put carbonated water in it instead of regular old water. Later, the wine was removed and replaced with syrup, and drinks called Yum Yum or Kola were sold at pharmacies because they could heal morphine addictions and headaches. The secret curative in the drink? Cocaine! OMG! Eventually, in 1903, the drug was taken out of the drink, which was renamed Coca-Cola.

Cheese: The real inventor of cheese is debatable, but I like to believe in this story: Back in Biblical times, an Arabian trader was carrying milk in a container in the desert. The milk curdled and hardened into—you guessed it—CHEESE. Many people believe that the container was made from a dead animal's stomach lining, and the enzymes in the lining helped the cheese curdle. Yuck.

Slinkies: Ah yes, the toy that kept us busy on summer days back when we were kids with big heads and huuuuuuge imaginations. It was 1943 when Richard James, a United States Navy engineer, was trying to make springs that could help stabilize and support ships on rough seas. Then out of nowhere one of the springs "walked" itself down his table, to a chair, then to the floor where it recoiled back to shape.

He was so amazed at this that he showed his wife. She wasn't sure the toy would catch on, but gradually she took to the idea. In fact, she was actually the one to name it Slinky, which means "sleek" and "graceful." However, the name also sounds like the sound the toy makes. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. James. We salute you.

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