Thank you, Spencer Silver and John Logie Baird…for making today possible...

CAN WE REALLY LIVE WITHOUT A POST-IT NOTE OR A VIDEO CALL?

Some of you may have read over the past few days about the passing of Spencer Silver, an inventor with over 35 inventions and an inductee to the “National Inventors Hall of Fame”, with his most famous being the Post-it Notes. First brought to market by 3M in 1974 on a limited scale, there is probably not one single piece of stationery that is more essential and ubiquitous in our homes and workplaces. We use these little scraps of paper with a dab of sticky glue that remind of us what we need to do in our daily lives.

And this brings us to Scottish inventor John Logie Baird and why he matters today. Mr. Baird(1888-1946) along with ATT’s Bell Labs, is roundly credited with inventing the video conference call in the late 1920’s. That’s right, the first attempt at video conferencing was attempted at the onset of the television era and obviously needed about another century to fully be exploited as essential and “ubiquitous” tool.

Rarely, if ever, do we sit and think about those who had the insights and drives that help us function today as if these products have always been with us. Though there is not much linking Messer Silver and Baird other than how we conduct our daily activities, hats off to both of these people who thought a little differently and expanded our lives.