Accidental Medical Discoveries: How Tenacity and Pure Dumb Luck Changed the World

Regular price
$16.99
Sale price
$16.99
Regular price
$16.99
Sold out
Unit price

Many of the world’s most important and life-saving devices and techniques were often discovered purely by accident. Serendipity, timing, and luck played a part in the discovery of unintentional cures and breakthroughs:

A plastic shard in an RAF pilot’s eye leads to the use of plastic for the implantable lens.
The inability to remove a titanium chamber from rabbit’s bone leads to dental implants.
Viagra was discovered by a group of chemists, working in the lab to find a new drug to alleviate the pain of angina pectoris.
A stretch of five weeks of unusually warm weather in 1928 played a role in assisting Dr. Alexander Fleming in his analysis of bacterial growth and the discovery of penicillin.
After studying the effects of the venom injected by the bite of a deadly pit viper snake, chemists developed a groundbreaking drug that works to control blood pressure.

Accidental Medical Discoveries is an entertaining and enlightening look at the creation of 25 medical inventions that have changed the world – unintentionally. The book is presented in a lively and engaging way, and will appeal to a wide variety of readers, from history buffs to trivia fanatics to those in the medical profession.
Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781510712461

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Skyhorse

Publication Date: 11-22-2016

Pages: 288

Product Dimensions: 5.90(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Robert W. Winters is an experienced medical scientist, doctor, teacher, and writer. He is a graduate of Indiana University and of the Yale School of Medicine. He was a professor of pediatrics at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. The author resides in Helsingor, Denmark.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Preface ix

Part I Surgery And Anesthesia 1

1 The Gleam of Cold Steel: Surgery without Anesthesia 3

2 Ether and Nitrous Oxide: Blessed Relief 7

3 Chloroform: The Clergy Objects 21

4 Cocaine Anesthesia: Freud's Favorite 31

Part II Implants 37

5 The Artificial Lens: A Legacy of Wartime 39

6 Good as New: Dental Implants 47

Part III Drugs That Affect The Blood 57

7 Vitamin K: Began with a Bleeding Chick 59

8 Dicumarol and Warfarin: Began with a Bleeding Cow 63

Part IV Drugs That Fight Infection 71

9 Smallpox: The Cure of a Lesser Evil 73

10 Penicillin: The Crucial Role of Weather 85

11 Streptomycin: A Major Dispute 95

12 Cephalosporins: Something in the Sewage 107

13 Peptic Ulcers: A Discovery in an Empty Lab 113

Part V Drugs That Affect The Heart 123

14 Nitroglycerin and Amyl Nitrite: Boom! 125

15 Digitalis: The Shropshire Woman and the Foxglove 131

16 The Tranquilizers: Two Chance Discoveries 139

17 LSD: A Mind-Blowing Accident 145

18 Lithium: The First Guinea Pigs ... Were Guinea Pigs! 151

19 Thorazine: A Cure from Curare 157

Part VI Thevitamins (Vit(Al) Amines) 165

20 The Naming of Vitamins: The Vital Missing Pieces 167

21 Vitamin B1: Brown Rice Cures Beriberi 171

22 Vitamin C: Another Battle for Priority 181

23 Vitamin D: Bowlegged Lion Cubs 191

Part VII Other Medical Discoveries 201

24 Insulin: The Role of Insomnia 203

25 Viagra: A Pleasant Surprise 215

26 X-rays: Bertha's Hand 225

Afterword: Acceptance of New Discoveries 235

About the Author 241

Index 243

Go to full site