Gideon Sundback
Swedish-American inventor (1880-1954) · Sweden · Scientists · Died at 74
Gideon Sundback is read about 49 times a day, in 43 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 18 September 2026
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Something wrong?He made the zipper work. Before Sundback's design, every iteration jammed or split under pressure. His 1913 patent - interlocking metal teeth pulled smooth by a single slider - turned a novelty into infrastructure.
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About this person
Otto Fredrik Gideon Sundbäck was born in Sweden on April 24, 1880, and trained as an electrical engineer before moving to America. In 1913, while working for a fastener company, he cracked the problem that had stalled inventors for years: a reliable closure mechanism with teeth small enough to flex, strong enough to hold, and a slider that married them cleanly. The patent turned fasteners from a curiosity into an industrial standard. He died on June 21, 1954, his name largely forgotten but his device sewn into nearly everything.
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