Good emerging from disasters

Post-it notes were invented as a by-product of a glue that wouldn't work.

The history of the Post-It

Ruth Wakefield, an innkeeper, was baking Butter Drop Do cookies one day, using a recipe that dated back to colonial times. Wanting chocolate cookies, she cut up a Nestlé chocolate bar and put the chunks in the batter. When she took them out of the oven, she expected to find chocolate-flavored cookies. Instead, what she got were butter cookies with gooey chocolate chips.


Imagine how close the world came to not having chocolate chip cookies.

Thanks Ruth, hats off to ya.

The Johnstown Flood of l989 was directly responsible for the founding of the American Red Cross.

Earthquake-resistant buildings were inspired by earthquake damage.

The technology for the electric blanket was originally invented for pilots during WWII. They wanted to design flight suits that kept the pilots warm in their unheated planes.

You might want to research specific medical advancements made during the Vietnam War, it was a turning point for many procedures that are now used in standard surgical and trauma practice.

A political type of good emerging from a disaster:

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=59745&highlight=

RADAR

The Red Cross was founded as a result of the Austro-Sardinian War (in particular the battle of Solferino).

The First and Second World Wars were important for women's lib. (although some posters might not consider that a good thing )

The sinking of the Titanic lead to the monitoring of icebergs (and perhaps improvements in safety measures on ocean liners).

Tests for colour blindness were divised after train crashes in Sweden (colour blind engineers could not see the difference between the red and green signs)

The North Sea Flood of 1953 led to the development of new technologies in waterdefences.

Napoleon's occupation of Europe left a legacy in legal systems and in science (metric system etc.).