Velcro was invented after a walk with a dog. In 1941 Swiss engineer George de Mestral came back from a hunt in the Alps covered in burrs and saw hundreds of tiny hooks under the microscope.
The name joins velours and crochet.
More amazing facts
- 1940 · 1947 · 1974 Three of the 20th century's greatest finds were made by non-archaeologists: Lascaux by teenagers and a dog in 1940, the Dead Sea Scrolls by Bedouin shepherds in 1947, the Terracotta Army by farmers digging a well in 1974.
- 1942 · 1951 Superglue was discovered by accident and promptly rejected.
- 1942 Casablanca was not filmed in Casablanca.
- 1942 · 1944 A brown bear served in the Polish army in World War II. Wojtek was enlisted as a private so he could board a ship in Egypt, and his company’s badge became a bear carrying an artillery shell.
- 1943 · 1945 The Slinky was invented when a spring fell off a shelf.
- 1943 During World War II the Oscars were made of plaster.