You’ll Love Their Inventions, But You Probably Don’t Know Their Names

For every high profile inventor and tech wizard like Bill Gates and Elon Musk, there are hundreds of less well-known innovators out there. Many of them have invented things we use every day without giving a single thought to who might have been behind them, others have made less well-known contributions to the world. Call them unsung heroes. Call them innovators and visionaries. But, whatever you do, remember their names from now on.

Spencer Silver

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Every day, millions of people all around the world have a very good reason to thank Silver. His particular contribution to modern life can be used to do everything from leave a note on someone’s desk to say that they’ve missed an important call, to issue a stern warning that the milk in the office refrigerator belongs to you. We’re talking about the Post It note which Silver invented while working at 3M when he was figuring out a use for a glue that just wasn’t that sticky. At first it didn’t seem to have any practical applications until a colleague started using one of the prototype notes as a bookmark and its potential became reality.

Thomas Adams

Adams put his particular knowledge of sticky things to a very different use – but one which many people, across all age groups, find an essential part of their lives today. It all started back in the mid-1800s when he was working as an assistant to the Mexican president and noticed that his boss was in the habit of chewing a gum produced by a tree native to the country. Adams figured that by adding a peppermint flavour, it would really take off north of the border too, especially as, until then, most gum used paraffin or wax as its main ingredient. It turns out that his hunch was right.

Rick Simpson

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Anyone who’s looked into the medical uses of cannabis will certainly come across Rick Simpson’s name. Following an accident at work that left him with chronic tinnitus, Simpson found smoking marijuana supposedly ‘cured’ his symptoms. Some time later, when he was diagnosed with basal carcinoma on his skin, he developed a super-concentrated cannabis oil for topical treatment. With the application of the Rick Simpson oil cancer cells started to die and he claimed was cured and, today, many other cancer sufferers have claimed to experience similar successes after using the oil.

Percy Spencer

The man who invented a device that saves many of us hours in the kitchen – the microwave oven – was originally working on radar systems designed to save millions of lives. As part of his research Spencer specialized in developing magnetrons, a method of creating very strong electronic waves, and one day found that he had melted a chocolate bar in his pocket. One thing led to another and, by 1955, microwave ovens first started to appear in American kitchens.

So, next time you zap that ready meal or leave a Post It note on a co-worker’s screen, spare a thought for these men, along with all the other forgotten inventors, who have helped to shape the way we live today.