Of the duo that created 3M's now-ubiquitous Post-it Notes, Spencer Silver was, quite literally, the glue. Silver, a chemist from Texas, created the adhesive that gives Post-it Notes their stickiness.

Sometimes, failure sticks better than success. In 1968, a scientist at 3M tried to invent one of the strongest adhesives ever made. Instead, he created one of the weakest. That so-called mistake would ...