GE tried to make synthetic rubber — it got a bouncing putty that went to the moon

In 1943, during World War II, the United States faced a critical shortage of natural rubber after Japan invaded the rubber-producing countries of Southeast Asia. General Electric chemist James Wright was assigned to develop a synthetic rubber substitute. He mixed boric acid with silicone oil in a test tube and got a gooey, bouncing putty that stretched farther than rubber and bounced higher than a rubber ball.

The putty had one fatal flaw: it was useless as rubber. It bounced, stretched, and picked up newsprint like a printing press, but it lacked the strength and elasticity needed for tires, gaskets, or any other wartime application. GE sent samples to scientists around the world, hoping someone could find a practical use. Nobody could. The project was abandoned.

In 1949, toy store owner Ruth Fallgatter discovered the putty at a party and began selling it through her catalogue. Marketing consultant Peter Hodgson saw the potential. He borrowed $147, bought a batch of the putty, packed 1-ounce portions into plastic eggs, and named it Silly Putty. After a New Yorker magazine article mentioned the product, Hodgson sold over 250,000 eggs in three days.

The Korean War in 1951 caused a silicone shortage that halted production for a year, but by 1955 most buyers were children aged 6 to 12. The first TV commercial aired in 1957 on the Howdy Doody Show. In 1968, Apollo 8 astronauts took Silly Putty into lunar orbit, where it was used to secure tools in zero gravity. By 2009, over 300 million eggs had been sold. Binney & Smith (Crayola) acquired the brand in 1977.