“Why does my cigarette I left on the lab table taste sweet?” is absolutely the question an inattentive scientists asked himself before he discovered an artificial sweetener.
EDIT: Michael Sveda’s discovery of cyclamate at the university of Illinois in 1937
Chemistry has discovered more than they probably care to admit by accidentally licking things.
Mouth pipetting is a large part of this.
“Why does my cigarette I left on the lab table taste sweet?” is absolutely the question an inattentive scientists asked himself before he discovered an artificial sweetener.
EDIT: Michael Sveda’s discovery of cyclamate at the university of Illinois in 1937
Purposefully licking things.
Chemists of old were a bit less safety conscious than we are today. Tasting the chemicals you just made was just part of the job back then.
Chemists of old were plenty safety conscious. Licking the science is what apprentices were for.
We still like to sniff stuff. You’ve got some very sensitive chemoreceptors right on your face, might as well use them!
laughs in canine
Literally how we got aspartame. It started as an ulcer drug.