Plane Stupid doesn't do obituaries. True, we'll make the mother of all exceptions when the aviation industry dies a death. But we have to mark the passing of Harry Coover. An unsung hero of activists across the world. The man who invented superglue!
His great invention has been used in protests in Gaza, against whaling, against the RBS bank and by Plane Stupid's Dan Glass when he superglued himself to Gordon Brown when he was prime minister in protests against plans for a third runway at Heathrow.
You see, it's so convenient. Tuck a little into your pocket. The cops will never notice. And if they do they are stuck with the problem! If they don't - and they usually don't - Harry's invention allows an activist to stick it to the authorities at will. A little bit of glue can go a long way! And the authorities aren't likely to forget the day they encountered the sticky problem. Long after Gordon Brown has forgotten the precise details of his last speech, he'll remember the day a young man superglued himself to his suit. And what he was protesting about. Superglue has become a great tool in the the long line of creative protest that makes a serious point in a memorable way. Thanks Harry.
Harry Coover - to give him his full title, Dr Harry Coover Jr - discovered superglue by accident. In 1952 a researcher named Fred Joyner, who was working with Harry Coover at Eastman Kodak's laboratory in Tennessee, was looking for a temperature-resistant coating for jet cockpits. When he spread a compound between to lenses they became permanently bonded together. Joyner's initial reaction was panic at the loss of expensive lab equipment. But Harry Coover recognised the potential in the sticky adhesive, namely that it required no heat or pressure to bond, and so superglue was born. Since then it has been used to strengthen bridges, patch together internal organs of wounded soldiers in Vietnam and repair the engine of the space shuttle Discovery And of course it's been gold-dust for campaigners.
Harry Coover - who was 94 when he died - had 400 patents to his name but he will be forever remembered for just one - superglue. Support Plane Stupid, support superglue, support the downfall of the aviation industry. Stick it to them!
