Origins: Post-It Note Adhesive
The Sticky Yellow Square聽
In 1968 Spencer Silver (PhDA&S鈥66), a聽senior chemist at 3M鈥檚 Central Research聽Labs, developed a peculiar adhesive.聽Made out of tiny bubbles, it was strong聽enough to hold papers together but weak聽enough that they could be pulled apart.聽It could be reused several times before it聽lost its stick. Unsure what to do with his聽creation, Silver tried to interest his colleagues聽at 3M in his invention.
鈥淚t was part of my job as a researcher聽to develop new adhesives, and at that聽time we wanted to develop bigger, stronger,聽tougher adhesives,鈥 he told CNN.聽鈥淭his was none of those.鈥
Five years passed before new 3M product聽development researcher Arthur Fry聽had an idea. Fry sang in a church choir,聽and every time he opened his hymnal his聽bookmark fell out. Tired of picking it up,聽he realized Silver鈥檚 adhesive was just what聽he needed to keep his bookmark in place.聽Voil脿, the concept of the Post-it note was聽born, and the product launched in 1980.聽Two years after appearing on the market,聽the iconic yellow notes had become a staple聽for offices, schools and homes. Today,聽more than 50 billion Post-it note products聽are sold every year.聽
As for Silver, his name appears on聽more than 22 U.S. patents.
Photo by iStock.com/bluestocking聽