Where did Spencer Silver work before?

Answer 1

Spencer F. Silver was born in San Antonio. He majored in Chemistry at Arizona State University (BS, 1962), then earned a doctorate in Organic Chemistry from the University of Colorado(PHD, 1966), before taking a position as a Senior Chemist in 3M's Central Research Labs. Silver still works at 3M, specializing in Adhesives Technology. But Silver's creativity is not confined to his career: over the years he has also won a reputation as an accomplished painter in pastels and oils.

Silver is now named on over 20 US patents; but his most significant invention was not an immediate success. In 1968, Silver developed a high-quality but "low-tack" adhesive, made of tiny, indestructible acrylic spheres that would stick only where they were tangent to a given surface, rather than flat up against it. As a result, 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. More importantly, the adhesive could be used in the same way again and again. Silver wanted to market the adhesive as a spray, or as a surface for bulletin boards on which temporary notices could be easily posted and then removed.

Over the next five years, Silver shared his revolutionary product with colleagues at 3M, informally and in seminar presentations. A marketable form of the product proved elusive, and Silver's temporary adhesive might have been consigned to a shelf indefinitely; but then Art Fry attended one of Silver's seminars.

Answer 2

Spencer Silver worked at 3M before he invented the adhesive known as the Post-it Note.