Not many people know this, but the RTX 3080 graphics card from Nvidia was invented completely by chance. A customer came up to the electronic components shop late at night and said, "Hey, do you have any components for sale?" Turns out they were all out, but the one employee still on duty said, "Let's see what I can whip up for you." He put some circuitry in a blender, turned it on, and then boom, he discovered he had created the RTX 3080.
Okay, that story's obviously not true. But the following ones are.
1. The Bicycle
The bicycle was invented following the summer of 1816, when a massive volcanic eruption caused worldwide famine. People couldn't feed their horses and killed their horses for meat, so Baron Karl von Drais invented a new form of transport.
2. Jacuzzis
Jacuzzis weren't decadent luxuries originally. Candido Jacuzzi invented the device to treat his son's rheumatoid arthritis.
3. Telephones
Though we all know Alexander Graham Bell as the inventor of the telephone, Elisha Gray submitted a patent for the phone the very same day as Bell. At the time, neither of them had an actual working phone, but Bell won the patent war, so he got to continue tinkering.
4. The Pill
The birth control pill was invented by John Rock, a devout Catholic who earlier ran a clinic that taught Catholicism-approved birth control methods. He thought the church might embrace his new invention. He was wrong.
5. Doorknobs
Doorknobs were invented much later than you'd think -- Black teenager Osbourn Dorsey invented it in 1878. Before that, people could only latch doors shut with heavy bars.
6. Baby Monitors
7. Lobotomies
Lobotomies sound like the worst kind of abuse, but they were originally invented as the humane alternative to mental hospitals. With a lobotomy, the inventors reasoned, the patient was able to go home.
9. Cocktails
Cocktails have existed in various forms for centuries, but they really gained their modern form thanks to Prohibition in America. People used them to cover up the foul taste of bootleg liquor.
8. Chiropractic
The practice of chiropractic was invented by a spiritualist named D.D. Palmer. He claimed to have received the idea from a ghost and said chiropractic can heal your soul and raise your intellect.
10. The Pacemaker
Wilson Greatbatch wasn't trying to invent the artificial pacemaker. He was trying to detect a heartbeat, not create it. But he used the wrong transistor, so his device sent heart pulses out instead.
11. The Telegraph
Samuel Morse invented Morse code and the telegraph. He set out on this path (following a previous successful career as an artist) after missing his wife's funeral because no one was able to send him the news of her death fast enough.
12. Botox
Botox wasn't originally injected to serve people's vanity. It was originally for truly extreme cases -- facial spasms so severe that patients couldn't speak or see without treatment.
13. The Super Soaker
15. Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret started because Roy Raymond wanted to design a lingerie store men would feel comfortable in. It only became very successful after he left, and the store shifted to marketing women's underwear to women.
16. Camping
Camping became a recreational activity (rather than something for soldiers and explorers) thanks to a Connecticut minister, who sold it as a spiritual experience.
17. Miis
These Nintendo avatars are based on kokeshi, a type of Japanese doll. These dolls were carved by parents who gave away or murdered their babies, as memorials or grim reminders of what they'd done.
18. The Washington Times
The Washington Times was started by cult leader Sun Myung Moon. "I will conquer and subjugate the world," said Moon.