The incident occurred in 1938, when chemist Roy Plunkett was conducting experiments on refrigerant gases, and something went wrong. He found a gas cylinder to be blocked and then decided to check what he had inside after opening it. Instead of finding the expected gas, he noticed a white and waxy substance covering the entire inner surface.
As per the source 'PubMed Central – PFAS and fluoropolymer history review', this peculiar discovery was polytetrafluoroethylene, which is famously referred to as PTFE in the industry, and popularly branded as Teflon. This discovery was unique because of its unusual characteristics as compared to other substances. It was highly stable, slippery, and resistant to heat. At first, this substance seemed like a peculiar occurrence in the laboratory, but it was found to have rare characteristics.
