Some of the best discoveries happen by accident. On April 6, 1938, a chemist named Roy Plunkett was trying to make a new gas for refrigerators. He stored the gas in small metal tanks. When he opened one tank, no gas came out. But the tank was not empty. Inside was a waxy white substance that was incredibly slippery. Plunkett tested the mystery material. Water rolled off it. Acids could not damage it. Heat up to 500 degrees did not melt it. The material was almost completely resistant to everything scientists tried. DuPont, the company Plunkett worked for, named the material Teflon. At first, it was used by the military and NASA. Teflon coated machine parts to reduce friction, the force that slows objects when they rub together. It protected wires from extreme temperatures in space. In the 1960s, a French engineer figured out how to bond Teflon to cooking pans. Suddenly, eggs and pancakes slid off without sticking. Nonstick cookware became one of the most popular kitchen inventions in history. Today Teflon appears in thousands of products. It coats bridges, wires, and medical devices. All because a scientist opened a tank and found something he was not looking for.