h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm proud with 8/10 for that.

Plastic (cellulose) was another accidental invention - they found it in the bottom of a test tube. The lab-coated intelligentsia sat around for a while wondering what on earth they could use it for, before someone eventually thought of something: snooker balls (they had previously used ivory).

Cool thinking. It's fun to imagine them working that out...sort of like a Monty Python sketch...

When I was at school, a friend of our physics teachers' gave us a demo. He was a research chemist for Westinghouse. We were entertained by his making nylon in a beaker, and freezing a rose in liquid nitrogen, stuff like that.

But then he described the accidental discovery of Teflon, and we were extremely impressed. Great 'teachable moment' about how to use your lab technique, skills, and curiosity.

I got all but three, and I was close on one of those - I said hallucinogenics instead of LSD.

I remember I watched an interview with one of the early electrical engineers (I think he was working for General Electric, but I could be wrong).

He said he was working in a laboratory with several others. If anyone wanted some special peace of equipment it was provided, even if was quite expensive.

He said the owner would stop by almost every morning and ask 'Is everyone having fun'?

One morning he replied 'I am having a great deal of fun, but how is that going to make you money'?

The owner said 'You just have fun and let me figure out how to make money'.

He concluded with a list of dozens of appliances that they invented or improved that we all have in our homes today.

F S

Great story! This discussion makes me glad I compiled this particular quiz.