Dr. Harry Coover discovered super glue by accident in 1942 while trying to make clear plastic gun sights for WWII. He shelved cyanoacrylate as useless, then found its instant bonding power six years later while developing airplane canopies. Vietnam War surgeons sprayed it on wounds to stop bleeding.
The inventor of super glue was trying to make guns more powerful, but ended up creating something used to save lives. Here's how it went down. It all starts in 1942 with this guy, Dr. Harry Coover. He's a chemist trying to make clear plastic gun sights for soldiers during World War II. He's experiencing with a substance called cyanoacrylate, a chemical so sticky it bonds to literally everything in the lab. So sticky, in fact, it's totally useless as a gun sight, so he tosses it in the garbage bin. Fast forward 6 years and Coover's now trying to make airplane canopy stronger. He digs out that sticky compound he was messing around with before and realizes, hey, this This stuff is amazing. It bonds instantly with no heat or pressure. But here's where it gets really interesting. During the Vietnam War, field surgeons used super glue to stop bleeding on the battlefield. They sprayed it over wounds to seal them long enough to get soldiers to safety. This tiny tube becomes a total lifesaver, and now it's helping hold your home and the entire world together, one clear drop at a time.
