6) Nutella
During the second world war, Pietro Ferrero, an Italian baker, was looking for a new foodstuff to combat malnutrition in children. Chocolate was very rare and very expensive at the time. He therefore decided to replace it with hazelnuts and ended up creating a hard bread made from chocolate and hazelnuts in 1946. Several years later, during the heatwave of 1949, the fridges failed to conserve the famous chocolate recipe, which turned to liquid. Pietro’s son, Michele Ferrero, decided to sell it, and it became the success that it still is today.
7) Microwave ovens
Percy Spencer had the idea to create a microwave oven in 1945, while he was the director of a company developing microwave radar transmitters. It was while he was passing by a transmitter that her realised that the heat had melted a chocolate bar in his pocket! This was how he created the microwave ovens that we know today.
8) The Slinky
The Slinky is a toy that is actually just a giant spring, capable of going down stairs, simply thanks to the force of gravity. It was Richard James, a American naval engineer who had the idea in 1943. He simply noticed a spring falling from a table and coming back together on the floor, which gave him the idea to create the toy.
9) Aspartame
The discovery of this artificial sweetener was made in 1965. It was a chemist called James Schlatter who accidentally tasted the product one day. He was very surprised to note its sweet taste, and aspartame soon found its way on to the market.
10) Erasers
Rubber erasers were discovered in the 1770s by the British chemist Joseph Priestley. Previous to this, traces of ink were generally erased with crusts of bread soaked in milk. It is thanks to the discovery of latex in the Amazon rainforest that this type of rubber eraser was created.
