7 minor mistakes that changed the course of history

From time to time, we all make small mistakes, but they are unlikely to lead to global consequences like the Third World War. Although everything can be. History knows a lot of cases when absurd miscalculations caused a real avalanche of misfortunes and changed the world forever. Here are 7 minor errors that affected the course of history.

1. Decimal separator made from spinach superfood

In 1870, one of the German chemists decided to find out which vegetables contain the most iron. Summing up his research, he put a comma in the wrong place. As a result, the content of iron in spinach increased from 3.5 mg to 35. The discovery of the scientist turned an unremarkable vegetable into a popular superfood.

2. The missing key was the cause of the crash of the "Titanic"

On the eve of the first and last voyage of the famous steamship, the second assistant to the capital, David Blair, was taken off the ship. Leaving the ship, in a hurry, he forgot to pass the key to the safe with binoculars for a forward looking officer to Charles Litoller, who got on board instead. As a result, the crew of the Titanic remained without a key, and without binoculars, and the sailors on the observation tower were forced to rely only on their own eyes. Later, one of the observers, Fred Fleet, admitted that with binoculars he would have noticed an iceberg before, and the crew of the Titanic would have managed to change course and avoid a catastrophe.

3. Explore the Martian climate was not possible due to calculations in inches

Engineers who built jet engines for climate research on Mars did not even think to use the metric system. Especially they did not occur to inform NASA specialists about it. Can you imagine how many errors and inconsistencies arose in the construction of engines? The most surprising thing about them until the last did not suspect either side. As a result, in 1999, the US satellite "Mars climate orbit" flew to the red planet and fell to its surface.

4. Two aircraft fell apart in the air because of the square portholes

The "Comet" planes, created by de Havilland, were once a miracle of engineering thought. However, in 1954 two of them exploded right in flight. The cause of both catastrophes was covered in square portholes, unable to withstand high pressures due to the metal fatigue developing over time. A mistake engineers took 54 lives, and on all aircraft since then, windows have been installed exclusively round.

5. The bolt jumped destroys the space rocket

In 1969, the Soviet Union launched its most expensive spacecraft. The super-heavy H-1 booster survived in the air for less than a minute because of a jumped bolt caught in an oxygen pump that fed one of the engines. So a tiny foreign object provoked the most powerful explosion in the history of rocket science.

6. Missed hyphen cost NASA $ 80 million

In 1962, NASA launched its first spacecraft in the program "Mariner", aimed at studying Venus. However, one ridiculous misprint - a missed hyphen in the on-board computer code - completely changed its course. NASA was forced to interrupt the mission in 5 minutes after the start. As later learned scientist Arthur Clarke, Mariner 1 became the victim of the most expensive hyphen in history.

7. The success of the landing in Normandy provided the birthday of the wife of the German Field Marshal

The ingenious tactician and commander Erwin Rommel enjoyed respect not only at home, but also among the opponents of the Nazis. In 1944 he was appointed responsible for defending Europe from the Allied forces. However, on June 6, the Field Marshal decided to take a day off and spend with his wife her birthday in Berlin, which was a big mistake. It was on this day that the allied forces landed in Normandy and began storming its beaches. Later, the surviving soldiers claimed: if Erwin Rommel was then in the service, things would have turned out differently. Anyway, after the battle for Normandy, Hitler's troops were forced to constantly retreat and keep the defenses, and the Fuhrer himself never again gave his generals a weekend on the occasion of birthdays.