John Walker, an English chemist, accidentally discovered the friction match when he scraped a stick coated in chemicals against his hearth and it burst into flame. Before this, starting a fire required cumbersome flint and steel or chemical kits. Walker’s 'Lucifers' were the first portable, reliable way to create fire instantly. However, early matches were dangerous and smelled of sulfur. The 'safety match' was later developed in Sweden by Gustaf Erik Pasch, who moved the reactive chemicals to a separate striking surface on the box, preventing the matches from igniting accidentally in someone's pocket. The match revolutionized cooking, lighting, and smoking, providing humans with the power of fire in a small, cheap, and disposable form for the first time in history.