 He was working on discovering a strong adhesive. He created a low-tack glue that stuck to objects but could be easily removed without leaving a mark. Sure. Okay. One of Silver's colleagues used the substance on a small piece of paper to mark his place in a choir hymn book. And that is when the post-it note was born. Oh. Hence the post-it. You know, you can post it wherever you need to mark a place. Post-it notes. Mm-hmm.