40 Incredible Inventions That Were Born Out of Chance

Petroleum jelly, which you may know better by the brand name Vaseline, has gained quite a reputation among some people as a miracle substance that cures all manner of ills. Does it do all the things people think it does? Probably not. And when you hear where it comes from, you might be pretty shocked.

While some versions may have been used by Native Americans for hundreds of years, petroleum jelly was first refined and sold commercially when a chemist in the 1950s heard about “rod wax,” which forms on oil rigs and drills. He took some back to his laboratory, refined it, and then sold it as the petroleum jelly that mothers around the world claim is a cure-all.