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Serendipity : A brief history of Post-It

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That yellow piece of paper that sticks anywhere easily and comes off clean, or post-it notes as we know it, ever wondered whose idea was this masterpiece of simplicity? What if I tell you that this super handy stationery, used in almost every office and which sometimes cater to the creative heads of some artists as well, was developed by accident?

Sticky note


Yes, you read it right, the ‘post it’ notes were first created in a lab of US science company 3M(then called Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company). In 1968, a scientist at 3M, Dr. Spencer Silver, was attempting to develop a super-strong adhesive. Instead, he accidentally created a "low-tack", reusable, pressure-sensitive adhesive. However, it took the brains of another scientist Arthur Fry to find the right use of this "Super Weak" adhesive.

So next time you are cracking your head against the wall while solving a real hard problem and your solution does not look perfect, just never rule out the possibility of your solution being the perfect solution for another problem in this big big world.
Nerd Note 1 : Until 1990s, that's when company's patent expired, Post-It type notes were produced exclusively in 3M's plant 
Nerd Note 2 : Of late, ‘Post-it’ art found new interest among artists and is used for creating fun images for decor purposes as well. Below is one such piece:

 Post-it Art
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Location: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

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