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In 1879 a researcher working on coal tar derivatives went to dinner without washing his hands and noticed his bread tasted sweet. He traced it back to the laboratory bench and found saccharin.

Constantin Fahlberg, Johns Hopkins (1879)

Why it matters

The idea in context

Fahlberg went back and, in an act of research technique no laboratory would permit today, tasted his way along the bench until he found the compound — around 300 times sweeter than sugar. He patented it without crediting his supervisor Ira Remsen, who was quietly furious for the rest of his life. Saccharin's moment came with sugar rationing in both world wars. The same story recurs: aspartame and sucralose were also found by chemists who licked something they should not have.

Türkçe

Aynı kart, başka bir dilde.

1879'da kömür katranı türevleri üzerinde çalışan bir araştırmacı, ellerini yıkamadan akşam yemeğine gitti ve ekmeğinin tatlı olduğunu fark etti. İzi laboratuvar tezgâhına dek sürdü ve sakarini buldu.

Constantin Fahlberg, Johns Hopkins (1879)

Fahlberg geri döndü ve bugün hiçbir laboratuvarın izin vermeyeceği bir araştırma tekniğiyle, bileşiği bulana dek tezgâh boyunca tadarak ilerledi — şekerden yaklaşık 300 kat tatlı. Patenti, ömrünün sonuna dek sessizce öfkeli kalan danışmanı Ira Remsen'i anmadan aldı. Sakarinin zamanı, iki dünya savaşındaki şeker karnesiyle geldi. Aynı öykü yinelenir: Aspartam ve sükraloz da yalamamaları gereken bir şeyi yalayan kimyagerlerce bulundu.

Source trail

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Background reading: SaccharinAttribution and context are revised when stronger evidence appears. Corrections are welcome through the editorial page.

Open in the iPhone app Editorial method

Next in the open archiveWhen Alfred Nobel's brother died in 1888, a French paper is said to have mistaken it for Alfred's death and called him a merchant of death who grew rich finding new ways to kill. He is said to have read it, and rewritten his will.Q1597

In 1879 a researcher working on coal tar derivatives went to dinner without washing his hands and noticed his bread tasted sweet. He traced it back to the laboratory bench and found saccharin.

The idea in context

Aynı kart, başka bir dilde.

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