--- description: Scientific experiments don't always happen according to the hypothesis, and sometimes failed experiments can even lead to new innovations. title: How garbage kickstarted the modern chemical industry image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcacfc68e277ebeda/69876808a988ca586b6aaa60/link-cfm.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # How Garbage Kickstarted the Modern Chemical Industry by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 10, 2014 8:36 PM CUT  Many discoveries are the result of accidents Many discoveries are the result of accidentsAmerican Chemical Society by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 10, 2014 8:36 PM CUT Throughout the history of science, some of the most important breakthroughs have come about through happy accidents. This certainly bears true in the video above, courtesy of the [American Chemical Society](http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en.html "undefined"), which explains how garbage kicked off the entire chemical industry. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3576520/garbage-kickstarted-modern-chemical-industry/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3576520/garbage-kickstarted-modern-chemical-industry/"},"headline":"How Garbage Kickstarted the Modern Chemical Industry","datePublished":"2014-11-10T20:36:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:20:35.451Z","description":"Accident leads to breakthrough","url":"https://time.com/3576520/garbage-kickstarted-modern-chemical-industry/","keywords":["Science topic","Garbage","Accidents","chemicals","Chemistry"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcacfc68e277ebeda/69876808a988ca586b6aaa60/link-cfm.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcacfc68e277ebeda/69876808a988ca586b6aaa60/link-cfm.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Many discoveries are the result of accidents","caption":"Many discoveries are the result of accidents","creditText":"American Chemical Society","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3576520/garbage-kickstarted-modern-chemical-industry/","name":"How Garbage Kickstarted the Modern Chemical Industry"}}]}] ```