Poison Gas Detector Saved Lives When It Turned Into A Smoke Detector
The invention of the smoke detector saved millions of lives. If your home has an operable smoke detector, your chances of dying in a fire decrease by half. This is all thanks to the hilarious science experiment thanks to Walter Jaeger, who was initially trying to invent a sensor to detect poison gas. Instead of gas, his detector picked up on the smoke from his cigarette, leading to the invention of the modern smoke detector. In 1977, stores sold more than 12 million smoke detectors, and today, 9 in 10 homes have smoke detectors. Even though this science experiment went wrong, it created something useful (History).