It is said that “To err is human” and humas actually learn from mistakes they make. However, the mistakes we are making you aware of are worth millions. These over-sized oversights and blunders will certainly raise the blood pressures of those who suffered later courtesy of these huge mistakes.
Let’s take a look at them:
1. Selling of Alaska
Alaska is currently considered one of the treasures of natural resources, but Russia considered it a mere marshland and sold Alaska in 1867 for $ 7.2 million.
2. Partition of India and Pakistan
The biggest mistake in history is the partition of India and Pakistan. To this day people are suffering due to this decision. From the war on Kashmir to the regular bloody wars and loss of peace, deployment of large armies of soldiers as well as insurmountable losses on both sides have been tremendous.
3. NASA’s Mars Climate Orbiter
NASA engineers forgot to convert measurement units from pounds to newtons during Mars’ climate orbit. It was primarily designed to study the climate on Mars. The conversion error caused the orbiter to burn in the Mars-ian atmosphere. The resultant explosion caused $ 125 million worth damage and the entire mission was sabotaged with zero results.
4. Inauguration of Heathrow Terminal-5
In 2008, the international terminal of the UK’s busiest airport in the world turned into disarray. It took 20 years of planning and a cost of £ 4.3bn with all the precision and basic facilities. Employees underwent training for six months. The day the grand opening took place, it became a disaster. The new baggage system collapsed and couldn’t accept more bags. There were around 28000 bags in temporary storage leaving thousands of passengers at the airport. This lead to hours of delay and cancellation of around 500 flights.
5. Morris Worm
An Internet worm accidentally created by then student Robert Morris went awry due to data and information violations eventually causing expenditure of millions of dollars to prevent the worm from replicating itself and avoiding system failures in many laboratories, schools and government agencies across the country.
6. Prithviraj Chauhan letting Muhammad Ghori go.
Rajputs are known for always not attacking the enemy bare handed. It was when Prithviraj Chauhan defeated and captured Muhammad Ghori in the first war of Tarain in 1191 AD. Prithviraj could easily get rid of Ghori and kill him as suggested by his advisors. But not to compromise his illustrious Rajput tradition of not attacking defenseless enemies, Prithviraj allowed him to go Scotch-free. The following year Ghori waged war again and as a result, India had to remain under Islamic rule for nearly 800 years, after the defeat of Prithviraj Chauhan in the Second War of Tarain.
7. Selling 610,000 shares for 1 yen.
Mizuho Securities, a Japanese trading company, wanted to sell one share on the Tokyo Stock Exchange for ¥ 610,000 (about $ 5,000). The actual selling price charged by a stockbroker (who probably didn’t get enough sleep on the previous night) was 610,000 shares for only 1 each. By the time the mistake was realized, it was too late and the stock exchange had already placed the order.
8. ET and Reese
One of the biggest blockbuster movies of all time, Alien is lured by Reese (a candy brand in the US). Steven Spielberg initially approached M&M for product placement and branding, but they turned down the offer. Result? Reese sales rose 65% after the film!
9. Elon Musk vs Netscape Navigator
Elon Musk, engineer, industrial designer, philanthropist, and technology entrepreneur, is a popular name. But in the beginning, Elon struggled a lot. He had approached the then market leader of the Internet age, Netscape Navigator with his ideas and wanted to work for them. But his application was rejected and he failed to get an interview for the job. Today, Netscape Navigator is a history and Elon Musk is one of the wealthiest and most influential entrepreneurs in the world.
10. When Janjira became a no man’s land
The Murud-Janjira Fort is one of the most beautiful forts in Maharashtra (and India), but its history is full of deceit. And for a long time, there was no ruler or humanity living in the premises of this prosperous and resource rich fort.
11. Titanic sinking
Well!! We all know about the movie Titanic, it was really fantastic. Over the years, several reasons have been attributed to the sinking of the ‘Unsinkable’ Titanic, but it has recently been revealed that the entire accident could have been avoided if ‘urgent’ had been marked as a warning. It is said that senior radio operator Jack Phillips did not give a clear warning to the ship’s captain, Edward Smith. The prefix “MSG” (meaning Masters Service) was not provided with the Village Message, which would have prompted that a Captain must personally acknowledge receipt of the message. Because it was not prefixed, it is considered to be the reason for the oversight by the captain, hence the final sinking of the ship.
12. Purulia Weapon Drop Case
A case that has been around for a very long time in Indian history still remains a mystery as the weapons were apparently dropped in the wrong place in Purulia, Bihar. Some think of this as a foreign conspiracy while some think it was done by some local politicians.
13. Bitcoin worth millions dumped
Back in 2009, bitcoins had just appeared and no one knew that they would be so in demand in a decade. At that time, an Englishman named James Howell collected 7500 of this digital currency. By the time the value of bitcoin reached its peak (in 2013), it was revealed that James had dumped the hard drive in which he had the bitcoins valued in millions.
14. Unclaimed Jackpot of £ 116 million
This husband probably obeyed his wife to “clean the dirt regularly”, too seriously that’s why he also threw a lottery ticket that would later become the jackpot winner.
15. Ronald Wayne’s Apple Stock Sale
One of the founders of the Apple company, Ronald Wayne, who designed the first logo and even wrote his first manual, sold his 10% share in 1976 because he feared bankruptcy. That 10% shareholding worth 80 billion dollars was sold at just $ 800.