Post-it Note

The Post-it Note is a small piece of paper carrying a re-adherable strip of glue on its back, made for temporarily attaching notes to documents and other surfaces. It grew out of an accident at 3M: in 1968 the chemist Spencer Silver was trying to develop an unusually strong adhesive and instead produced a low-tack, reusable pressure-sensitive one, with no clear use for five years. In 1974 his colleague Arthur Fry realized the adhesive could hold a bookmark in place in his hymn book, and developed the idea into a product under 3M's policy allowing employees to pursue their own projects. It reached stores in 1977 as Press 'n Peel, failed, was relaunched under the Post-it name in 1978 with a free-sample marketing campaign in Boise, Idaho, and went nationwide in 1980 and international in 1981.