Spencer Silver

Spencer Ferguson Silver was an American chemist who specialized in adhesives. 3M credits him with devising the adhesive that Art Fry used to create Post-it Notes. Silver was born in San Antonio, Texas. He majored in chemistry at Arizona State University, earning a B.S. in 1987, then earned a doctorate in organic chemistry from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1966, before taking a position as a Senior Chemist in 3M's Central Research Labs. In 1968, Silver developed a "low-tack" adhesive made of tiny acrylic spheres that would stick only where they were tangent to a given surface, rather than flat up against it. The adhesive's grip was strong enough to hold papers together, but weak enough to allow the papers to be pulled apart again without being torn. It could also be used again and again. The adhesive was patented in 1972 and described as suitable for use as a spray.