Accidental Inventions
While working with radar equipment, Percy Spencer noticed that a candy bar in his pocket had unexpectedly melted, inspiring this kitchen appliance.
The microwave
YOLO
You Only Live Once
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Winnie The Pooh
Pennywise the Dancing Clown terrorizes the town of Derry, Maine in this terrifying Stephen King novel.
It
Loosely inspired by Hamlet, this classic 1994 Disney film depicts a young lion's adventures with his meerkat and warthog friend after his father is killed in a wildebeest stampede.
The Lion King
A batch of grain left sitting out at a Michigan sanitarium accidentally led W.K. Kellogg and his brother to develop this crispy breakfast food.
Corn Flakes
EGOT
Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony
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Mario
This razor-gloved villain haunts your dreams on Elm Street.
Freddy Krueger
In this 2010 Christopher Nolan film, Leonardo DiCaprio leads a team that plants an idea inside a target's mind through layered dreams.
Inception
A scientist trying to create a stronger adhesive instead produced one that barely stuck at all, eventually giving rise to this office staple.
Post-It Notes
WYSIWYG
What You See Is What You Get
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Mr. Monopoly
Silent and masked, he escapes a sanitarium to return to Haddonfield on Halloween night.
Michael Myers
In Earth's future, a global crop blight and second Dust Bowl are slowly rendering the planet uninhabitable. Former NASA pilot Cooper and a team of researchers travel through across the galaxy to find out which of three planets could be mankind's new home.
Interstellar
After a walk outdoors, George de Mestral became fascinated by burrs clinging to his clothes and his dog, inspiring this fastening system.
Velcro
NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
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Toucan Sam (Fruit Loops)
Washington Irving's headless rider haunts this New York town.
Sleepy Hollow
This fictionalized historical epic starring Russell Crowe won 5 Oscars, including Best Picture in 2001.
Gladiator
While researching refrigerants, Roy Plunkett opened a gas cylinder and discovered that its contents had unexpectedly transformed into a slick white solid, a synthetic chemical coating famous for its slippery, non-stick properties.
Teflon
SCUBA
Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Appartus
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Ronald McDonald
In 1922's Nosferatu, this rat-like figure residing in Transylvania became cinema's first iconic vampire.
Count Orlok
This 2017 Christopher Nolan war film shows the 1940 evacuation of Allied troops from the beaches of France from three angles: land, sea and air.
Dunkirk