The Accidental Inventions That We’re All Grateful For

Post-It notes are incredibly useful. But did you know they actually came from a failed attempt at product development? In the 1960s, a scientist at 3M named Spencer Silver was attempting to develop a super-strong adhesive. Instead, he ended up developing a really weak one.

It might have died there, except one of his coworkers, Art Fry, realized that paper with this weak adhesive on it would be great for sticking notes in his hymn book at church without damaging the pages. Together, they developed the Post-It notes that we know and love today. It just shows that you should never give up on something! It might end up surprising you.