In 1879, Constantine Fallberg, a chemist at John Hopkins University, made an astonishing discovery.

He was conducting experiments with coal tar when he forgot to wash his hands.

When he started eating his lunch he noticed something odd.

His fingers tasted sweet.

Falberg's discovery was the start of a century long pursuit to create alternatives to sugar.

Learn more about artificial sweeteners, how they were developed, and how they work, on this

episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. The very first artificial sweetener was probably something you would never want to consume.

The ancient Romans created a substance that was known throughout history as salt of Saturn, Goulard's powder or lead sugar.

Kennest today would call it lead acetate and I guess you can figure out from the lead part why you wouldn't want to consume it. Lead sugar was one of the few

sweeteners that the Romans had beyond honey. They would create it by boiling

grape juice in lead pots until it became a syrup. There have been several

cases throughout history of lead poisoning from lead sugar.

Pope Clement II died in the year 1047 of lead poisoning due to the consumption of lead sugar.

Beethoven may have died from lead sugar used to sweeten his wine

even though by the time of his death it had been made illegal to use. Sugar

originated in India but was never traded in quantity to Europe. It wasn't until it became cultivated in the new world that its consumption exploded.

In the 19th century, sugar beets were grown when sugar was embargoed during the Napoleonic Wars.

The story of sugar itself was when Sugar was embargoed during the Napoleonic Wars.

The story of Sugar itself will be left for another episode.

However, the important fact is, despite the high demand for Sugar in the 19th and early 20th

centuries, Sugar was still relatively expensive.

In 1879, Constantine Falberg was a chemist conducting experiments with Kohltar.

...