Super Glue

During World War II in 1942, Coover worked at Eastman Kodak in Rochester, New York, tasked with developing optical-grade clear plastics for precision military gunsights. While experimenting with synthetic monomers, he synthesized cyanoacrylates, but discarded the compound because it stuck firmly to every piece of laboratory apparatus it touched.

Nine years later, in 1951, Coover supervised a research team at Tennessee Eastman Company in Kingsport, Tennessee, investigating heat-resistant polymers for jet aircraft canopies. Chemist Fred Joyner placed ethyl cyanoacrylate between two optical prisms of an expensive laboratory refractometer, permanently bonding the optical lenses together without any applied heat or pressure.

Recognizing that ambient atmospheric moisture acted as a rapid catalyst, Coover shifted focus to commercializing the formulation as an instant adhesive. Eastman Kodak patented the discovery under US Patent 2,768,109 in 1956 and launched it on the market in 1958 under the brand name Eastman 910, later popularized worldwide as super glue.