Most Weird Places where People got Business Ideas

When we think of the word 'idea' we tend to imagine a sudden flash of inspiration that seems to come from nowhere. Anyone can have a "Eureka moment" which can strike at any time and any place. Entrepreneurs have to constantly look out for newer ideas. Here are a few weird places where people get fascinating ideas from.

Bathtub

Archimedes is widely credited with the term "Eureka", which stems from the Greek word meaning "I have found it." He is accredited with the invention of measuring the volume of an object with an irregular shape. It so happened that the the then-king Hiero had order a gold crown, but was not sure whether the crown was made of pure gold or not, and hence shared his suspicion with Archimedes. One day while taking bath, he had these thoughts revolving in his mind, when he suddenly noticed that the amount of the water that overflowed from the tub, was proportional to the amount of his body that was submerged. At the realization, he came out of the bathtub, without wearing anything, shouting "Eureka, Eureka."

Dissatisfied with Someone or Something

As far as the story goes, Ferruccio Lamborghini (the founder of Lamborghini), who owned a tractor company, found the quality of the clutch in the Ferrari 250 GT (which he owned at that time) not upto the mark, and went to meet Enzo Ferrari (the founder of Ferrai) at his factory. Enzo sent him away stating that he didn't know how to drive cars and is fit to drive tractors only. Lamborghini had the clutch from his car dismantled, just to find that the manufacturer was the same person who made the clutches for his tractors too. He found a spare in his warehouse and it did the job. Ever since, Lamborghini became an unsatisfied Ferrari client and aimed to beat Ferrari at his so-called strength.

Another famous case is that of Post-Its. One day a 3M scientist was in a church, and came up with a use for Dr. Silver's glue. Arthur Fry was annoyed that the bookmarks in his hymnal won't stay put, and he thought of adding some Dr. Silver's adhesive to the paper, and ever since people have been coming up with uses for the Post-its.

On a walk

One day George de Mestral took his dog out for a walk in the woods, and when they returned, he noticed burrs all over his pants, which won't come off. Looking at the burrs under a microscope, he noticed that they had tiny hooks attached themselves to the loop of threads in his pants. He saw the possibility of binding two materials reversibly in a simple fashion, and figures out a way to duplicate the hooks and loops, and the Velcro was born.

Another famous chapter in history is that of Isaac Newton, who had escaped to his family's estate in Lincolnshire, and during a stroll around the farm, he observed an apple falling to the ground. He wondered why the apple fell to the ground instead of remaining suspended in the air. Following this experience, he embarked on a quest to develop his theory of universal gravitation. Other famous examples are of Nikola Tesla, Jules-Henri Poincare, and so on.

 Day-to-day Activities

The microwave was born when Percy Spencer was working on magnetrons for some military radar sets. He had a bit of inspiration, when he noticed that a candy bar he had kept in his pocket melted near the radar that he was working on. Clever he understood that the microwaves being emitted by the magnetron could penetrate the exterior of a food and cook it from the inside, and rest is history.

Descartes liked to stay in bed until around noon, and one day while watching a fly hit around above his head, Descartes realized that he could describe the fly's position by saying how far it was from the walls and ceiling. And now we know after whom the Cartesian geometry is named.

Dreams

One of the most famous eureka moments in chemistry happened with Freidrich August Kekule von Strandonitz, in 1864, who dreamt of odd shapes and movements--and snakes. Later when he recounted his dream, he saw a snake seizing its own tail, and the form whirled mockingly before his eyes. And then by a flash of lightening he woke up. He had discovered the ring shape of the Benzene molecule after having that reverie dream.

Otto Loewi dreamt of an experiment that he could do which would prove once and for all how nerve impulses were transmitted. He woke up in the middle of the night, scribbled down the experiment, and went back to sleep. When he woke up, he couldn't read his notes, but luckily he had the same dream the next night. The experiment and his work earned him the title, "The Father of Neuroscience."

Accidental

Though pacemakers were available in the Fifties, Wilson Greatbatch, an American academician, stumbled upon a better one, while trying to record heart sounds. When he placed a wrong size of resistor in a circuit, it created a brief pulse, followed by a one-second silence, perfect for regulating a heartbeat.

Alexander Fleming rediscovered penicillin in 1928, when he noticed that a plate of bacteria had been contaminated by a mould--which was destroying the bacteria. He discovered its properties, and named it penicillin.

 
Feuds

Adolf 'Adi' Dassler started producing shoes, after his return from the World War I, and in 1924 waw joined by his brother Rudolf 'Rudi'

Dassler, which became the Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory. Both brothers joined the Nazi party, but Rudolf was slightly closer to the party. During the war, a growing rift (political and personal differences) was fuelled by an instance when, after an Allied bomb attack in 1943, Adi and his wife climbed into a bomb shelter, where Rudi and his family were already in. Some comments by Adi meant for the Allied war planes, were misinterpreted by Rudolf as being directed to him. This led to the two brothers parting ways in 1947 and Rudolf started his own company called 'Ruda', which he later changed to 'Puma'.