History 2

In 1968, Dr. Spencer Silver, a chemist at 3M in the United States, developed a "low-tack", reusable, pressure-sensitive adhesive.[1] For five years, Silver promoted his invention within 3M, both informally and through seminars, but without much success. In 1974, a colleague of his, Art Fry, who had attended one of Silver's seminars, came up with the idea of using the adhesive to anchor his bookmark in his hymnbook.[2][3] Fry then developed the idea by taking advantage of 3M's officially sanctioned "permitted bootlegging" policy.[3] 3M launched the product in stores in 1977 in four cities under the name "Press 'n Peel", but its results were disappointing.[4][5] A year later, in 1978, 3M issued free samples to residents of Boise, Idaho, and 95 percent of the people who tried them said that they would buy the product.[4] On April 6, 1980, the product debuted in US stores as "Post-It Notes".[6] In 1981, Post-its were launched in Canada and Europe.[7]

In 2003, the company came out with Post-it Brand Super Sticky notes, with a stronger glue that adheres better to vertical and non-smooth surfaces.[8]

Standard Post-it Brand notes have only partial adhesive coating on the back, along one edge. Similar products are used for specialized purposes with full adhesive coating; the US Post Office uses such yellow address labels to forward mail.

The yellow colour was chosen by accident; a lab next-door to the Post-it team had scrap yellow paper, which the team initially used.[9]
[edit] Use in art
Example alt text
Post-it notes used to make a mosaic

In 2004, Paola Antonelli, a curator of architecture and design, included Post-it notes in a show entitled "Humble Masterpieces". Rebecca Murtaugh is a California artist who uses Post-it notes in her artwork; in 2001, she created an installation by covering her whole bedroom with $1000 worth of the notes, using the ordinary yellow for objects she saw as having less value and neon colours for more important objects, such as...