The Resume

(February 6, 1941-May 8, 2021)
Born in San Antonio, Texas
Research chemist at 3M (1966-96)
Developed an adhesive that was strong enough to hold two pieces of paper together, but weak enough to allow the papers to be pulled apart with tearing (1968)
Adhesive used by Arthur Fry to create Post-It Notes
Held 37 patents
Inducted with Fry into the National Inventors Hall of Fame (2011)
In the profile picture, Silver is on the left, Fry on the right

Why he might be annoying:

He created the adhesive by accident: 'I added more than the recommended amount of the chemical reactant that causes the molecules to polymerize.'
He noted about the company's initial lack of interest, '[3M] wanted to develop bigger, stronger, tougher adhesives. This was none of those.'
He called the adhesive 'a solution waiting for a problem to solve.'
It took six years after its creation for Fry to find a use for the adhesive.

Why he might not be annoying:

He was married to Linda Martin for 56 years.
Convinced the adhesive had potential, he used 3M technical forums to spread word to other employees, eventually leading to Fry, an employee in the tape division, hearing about it.
He received the Award for Creative Innovation from the American Chemical Society (1998).

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• 20th Century Scientists
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 82]
• I Attended Arizona State University
• I Attended University of Colorado-Boulder
• I Died in 2021 (Ranked: 80)
• I Earned a Doctorate
• Inventors
• Metal Names
• Profiles 51251-51500 (Ranked: 51476)
• Scientists
• We Celebrated Our Golden Anniversary
• We Died on the Same Day (Ranked: 20210508)

Year In Review:

In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 18 Votes: 22.22% Annoying