In 1968 a 3M scientist named Spencer Silver created an adhesive with a problem. It stuck lightly and came away clean. For years nobody at 3M could find a use for it.
In 1974 a colleague named Art Fry found one. He sang in a church choir, and his paper bookmarks kept falling out of his hymnal. Silver’s adhesive held them and lifted away without damage.
The product still almost died. A 1977 launch in four cities failed. 3M tried again with free samples in Boise. More than 90 percent of the people who tried a pad said they would buy more. The national launch came in 1980.