Arthur Fry

Arthur Fry with a sticky note on his forehead

Arthur Fry (born August 19, 1931 in Owatonna , Minnesota ) is an American inventor and scientist. He is a co-inventor of the post-it notes, which are manufactured by 3M and sold in more than 100 countries in 2006.

Life

Fry was born in Minnesota and lived in Iowa and Kansas City . He studied chemical engineering at the University of Minnesota .

As early as 1953 he was working as a product developer at 3M, which at that time was still called the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company. He worked there until he retired in the 1990s. The product for which he became known was invented in the 1970s. Fry attended a seminar held by another 3M scientist, Spencer Silver , on a novel adhesive that Silver invented in 1968. Silver's discovery had an unusual molecular structure that was strong enough to stick to objects but weak enough to stick only temporarily. At this point, Silver was still looking for a marketable application for this invention.

Fry is said to have been sitting in a church when he came up with the perfect application. He sang in a church choir on weekends, using scraps of paper as bookmarks. When he opened the book, these often fell out. One Sunday in 1974 it occurred to him that Silver's adhesive could be used to make better bookmarks. On paper, the bookmarks would stick to the book without damaging the pages.

It took a few years for this concept to bear fruit, partly due to technical problems in production and partly because management questioned the saleability of the product.

In 1980 Post-Its came onto the national market, in 1981 3M described the Post-Its as the most prominent new product. In 1986 Fry was recognized by 3M as a “corporate researcher”, “company developer”. Fry is also a member of 3M's Carlton Society and Circle of Technical Excellence.

Fry lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota .

Web links

• Century of Innovation: The 3M Story (PDF) - From the 3M United States website.
• Inventor of the Week Archive: Art Fry & Spencer Silver - From the Lemelson-MIT program website.
• Bio of Art Fry, 3M - From the innovateEurope conference website.