Our last word in business is about a little product that requires concise writing. Thirty years ago this month, it hit stores across the country. Scientists at the office products conglomerate 3M had stumbled upon a new kind of adhesive, one that could stick to many surfaces and be pulled off easily and repositioned.

Since 1980, they have been a top-selling office supply. They're no longer just three-by-three inches and light yellow in color. The little sticky pads come in eight sizes, and dozens of shapes and colors.

heir contribution to human progress has been so great that Post-It note inventers Arthur Fry and Spencer Silver were inducted last month into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

They began in 1980, when a St. Paul, Minnesota, choir member's hymnal bookmarks kept falling to the floor. Chorist Arthur Fry, an engineer at chemical company 3M, joined forces with 3M scientist Spencer Silver, inventor of a peculiar adhesive that stuck poorly to surfaces. The glue provided perfect temporary fixes for paper scraps such as hymnal bookmarks

One year after 3M officially launched the Post-it Note, the packs of sticky paper raked in more than US$2 million in sales. Post-it Notes - available in 27 sizes, 57 colors, and 20 fragrances

Everyone knows what the post- it notes are and  almost everyone use them in their normal life,but these amazing invention was not a planned product. Unlike other inventions no one got the idea and then stayed up many  night trying to make it happen, this was a total mistake.

In 1970 a scientist named Spencer Silver was working in the 3M research laboratories.He was working really hard trying to find a super stong adhesive, but instead  he developed an even weaker adhesive than what 3M already had, but he did not threw  it away.4 years passed until Arthur Fry came to the rescue!!!Arthur was singing in the church's choir and he used a paper to remind him his place in the anthom, but the reminder kept falling out of the book. He remembered Silver's adhesive,and he applied it to the paper   and it was a total success because the reminder stayed in place and he could take it out without damaging the pages or the reminder.In 1980 3M began selling  the post it notes.Even though now  you can buy the post it notes of  many colors,sizes and shapes the original ones were a small square in canary yellow color.

Arthur Fry was born on august of 1931 in  Minnesota, but  grew up  in a small town in Iowa and later in Kansas City. When Arthur finished school in 1950 he moved back to Minnesota to  the University of Minnesota to study majoring in Chemical Enginneering. In 1953, he began working for 3M in new project development while he was still undergraduate and worked  there until 1990. Now he has 3 children and 5 grandchildren and is very famous for a inventetion of  what is probably the most  important office supply product ever since the paperclip.

Most Famous Invention Sticky Post-it note sheets

Arthur L. Fry

United States

e invention of 3M's Post-it® Notes began with Art Fry's (a 3M new product development researcher, pictured above) frustration at how his scrap paper bookmarks kept falling out of his church choir hymnal

One year after its introduction, Post-it® Notes were named 3M's Outstanding new Product. And today, loyal customers can't imagine how they ever got along without them. Post-it® Notes are best sellers worldwide.

This dilemma stems from Dr. Spence Silver's story in the 3M company's Innovation Chronicles. Silver went looking for a strong bond and found a weak one. Fascinated rather than embarrassed, he shared his results with co-workers, among them churchgoer Arthur Fry. Fry enjoyed singing Amazing Grace as much as the next guy, but he was bedeviled by the church hymnal's bookmarks. They kept falling out and making him lose his place. If only there was some way to secure the bookmark that wasn't permanent. Hey! Hello, Dr. Silver? The rest is Post-it Note