How lucky do you feel today? No matter what Google tells you, you can never really know if you’re going to win a lottery or discover something. But throughout history, accidental luck has given way to scientific discoveries, to life-changing cures, to reversal of fortunes. Here are some people who just got lucky.
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You might know insulin as the most viable cure for diabetes, but decades ago, people had no sure-fire way of treating the ailment. In 1922, little Leonard Thompson was suffering from diabetes in Toronto and was moving closer to death every day. Doctors took a massive risk and injected him with an experimental drug, which had never been used on humans before. It was of course, insulin. The treatment did not just cure his diabetes, but his name went on to become synonymous with the most important medical discovery.
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Did you know Hollywood star Johnny Depp never really wanted to be an actor. But meeting one guy changed his life. He moved to LA with his wife to pursue music seriously - and met Ghostrider star Nicholas Cage. Back in the late ‘80s, Cage was a huge name. He introduced Depp to some people, and even after getting offers, Depp only accepted them so he could make money to play his music to more people. And today, Depp is one of the most successful names in Hollywood, and Cage’s fame has waned substantially.
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The only man to have survived the volcanic eruption of Mt. Pelée on the island of Martinique in 1902 was Ludger. He made out of a disaster which flattened his entire city and killed 40,000 people because he was punished with solitary confinement after he public brawling.
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Did you know the Indiana Jones star only became an actor by accident? In fact, he got the role of Star Wars lead Han Solo only because he was a carpenter who was installing cabinets at George Lucas’s home. Lucas was the creator of the Star Wars franchise and gave Ford both of his most iconic roles - Han Solo and Indiana Jones.
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Did you know Charlize Theron was discovered when she yelled at a bank employee? A young Theron was struggling financially in LA and had just received a $500 check from her mother. The bank employee told her that they cannot cash it because it was an out-of-state check. Hearing this, Theron made a huge scene and impressed with her flair, a talent scout gave her a chance to audition.
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In 2007, a supermarket employee Steve Flaig was desperately searching for his biological mother and found an address which was said to be his mom’s. The address was in the same city, and was near the store where he worked. Turns out, Steve was working alongside his mother for months in the supermarket, and the house belonged to his mom/ colleague.
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We all know Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, but many don’t know how. In 1928, he had left a petri dish uncovered in his lab, and it had grown a mol over the Staphylococcus bacteria in the dish. Today, penicillin is used to treat the infection driven by that that very same bacteria.
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Did you know that the first World War was triggered because an assassin got lucky? In 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, who was heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, was subject to an assassination led by nationalist Gavrilo Princip. But most of Princip’s men fired shots to kill the Archduke and his wife while they were on their open car. But Princip’s shots only hit the target because the couple’s car had taken a wrong turn. Incidentally, it was the assassination of the Archduke and his wife, which acted as a major catalyst for the first World War.
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Japanese-Buddhist priest and poet Nichiren was sentenced to death for his philosophy and writings. But on the day of his execution, his executioner was struck by lightning. The regime considered the accident to be a sign of retaliation from the universe and pardoned Nichiren.
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A man named Frane Selak, who was from Croatia, has escaped death seven times. He has survived a train crash, more than three car accidents, and he even fell out of a plane once. His life is like a real-life Final Destination movie, except he never dies. To make matters even weirder, he won a million-dollar lottery in 2003.
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One of the most successful supermodels ever, Cindy Crawford, struck it big while she was pollinating corn in her hometown of Illinois when she was snapped by a newspaper photographer. The picture went ahead to gain a lot of popularity, and Cindy started thinking about modelling seriously.
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The inventor of saxophone, Adolphe Sax, had escaped death multiple times. From burning himself in a burning pan to being affected by a gunpowder explosion, Sax faced it all. His mother had once told him that he is unlucky and won’t live, and yet he lived till 79 and invented the saxophone and the saxhorn.
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Mary Grams and Lena Påhlsson lost their wedding rings, a decade apart. While Canada-based Grams in Canada lost hers in 2004, Pahlsson lost it in Sweden in 1995. Years later, both women found the rings in their gardens, in their carrots, which had grown through the rings.
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A woman named Virginia Fike won the lottery twice in one day in 2012. She later said that she picked the numbers based on her parents’ anniversary and their ages, and they turned out to be lucky.
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Joan Ginther, known as the Lottery legend won the lottery four times. She had a PhD in statistics and figured out the algorithm which was used by that specific lottery system.
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Roy Sullivan gained the nickname of the Human Lightning Conductor. He was a US park ranger who was hit by lightning seven times between 1942 to 1977 and survived them all.
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In 1992, a helicopter carrying three men crashed over a molten volcano. Though the helicopter escaped the lava pool, the passengers on the flight were trapped inside the active volcano for two days, but miraculously did not die.
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David Gonzales, a contractor, was fixing a house in Minnesota and found a copy of Action Comics #1 in the house. He took the unclaimed comic book, and it turned out to be the first appearance of Superman. The 1938 issue sold at auction for $175,000.
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Natalie Portman was just a random teenager eating a pizza at a Long Island eatery when a representative for Revlon spotted her and asked her to audition for modelling. Though she did not take up modelling seriously, this did make her take up showbiz seriously.
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Jennifer was just 12 when she was vacationing in New York and was spotted by a casting agent. The Oscar winner, in fact, started work as a teen model and made her TV debut in 2006.
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