Accidental Inventions of the 20th Century, Part One: Penicillin, X-Rays and the Microwave Oven
Ridiculous History
iHeartPodcasts
4.3 • 4.4K Ratings
🗓️ 13 May 2025
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Humans have always been compelled by curiosity -- sometimes, this leads to misfortune, but other times... curiosity and accident can also lead to world-changing innovations. In part one of this week's special two-part series, Ben, Noel and Max explore the origin stories of history's greatest accidental inventions, from penicillin to the microwave oven and more.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Ridiculous History is a production of IHeart Radio. Welcome back to the show. |
| 0:27.8 | Fellow Ridiculous historians. |
| 0:29.4 | Thank you, as always so much for tuning it. |
| 0:32.4 | This is an accidental invention called a podcast, |
| 0:36.0 | and we couldn't do it without the help of our super |
| 0:38.9 | producer, Mr. Max Williams. |
| 0:41.5 | I know. |
| 0:42.3 | There was that time that scientist spilled Chemical X and then a podcast sprang forth, fully |
| 0:48.8 | formed. |
| 0:49.4 | Yeah. |
| 0:49.8 | Or that time I got bit by a radioactive microphone and then ended up doing this as a living. |
| 0:56.0 | Hey man, you know, there are worse ways to make a living and worse radioactive things to get |
| 1:00.2 | bitten by. Accidental inventions, intentional two-parter. |
| 1:04.0 | Mm-hmm. Yes, well done. I will say, I don't know if you guys have heard this, |
| 1:08.0 | but it was an accidental chemical spill that caused iron glass to be, like, formed. Okay. I don't know if you guys have heard this, but it was an accidental chemical spill that caused our glass to be, like, formed. |
| 1:14.1 | Okay. |
| 1:14.7 | I don't doubt it. |
| 1:15.4 | Yeah, I've read liquid glass. |
| 1:16.7 | I've read his biography. |
| 1:18.8 | And who is reading that biography? |
| 1:21.5 | Well, they call me Ben Bullen. |
| 1:23.2 | That's none other than Mr. Noel Brown. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 22 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from iHeartPodcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of iHeartPodcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.