Dr. Michael Sveda, a chemist who invented cyclamates, a noncaloric sweetener that became widely popular and then was banned by the Government as a possible carcinogen, died on Aug. 10 at his home in Stamford, Conn. He was 87.

The cause was complications from Parkinson's disease, said his wife, Martha Gaeth Sveda.

Dr. Sveda (SVAY-dah) was born on Feb. 3, 1912, in West Ashford, Conn., the son of immigrants from Czechoslovakia.

Dr. Sveda, who once told The New York Times in an interview that ''God looks after damn fools, children and chemists,'' credited providence for his discovery of cyclamates. In 1937, while doing lab work for his doctorate at the University of Illinois, he brushed his lips without having washed his hands and found that his fingers tasted sweet. Intrigued, he tasted chemicals from all the beakers in front of him and discovered the compound that he eventually refined into the sweetener.

By the time Dr. Sveda completed that process, he was an employee of the DuPont Company. He received the patent in 1939, but it was not until 1951 that the Federal Government approved cyclamates as a food additive. Previously, only saccharin had been available as an artificial sweetener, and soon a huge market developed for the alternative product.