Otto Fredrik Gideon Sundbäck was born April 24, 1880, on a farm in Sweden. His family was well off, and Sundbäck was able to continue his higher education in Germany. He graduated in 1903 with an engineering degree, and moved to the US in 1905.
Sundbäck settled in Pennsylvania, in a medium-sized town, and pursued his career in electrical engineering. In 1909 he got married. It was by all reports a happy union, although it’s unclear whether the couple had any children. Although his first name was Otto, as an adult Sundbäck generally went by one of his middle names, Gideon.
Over the next few years, Sundbäck pursued his job in electrical engineering by day, but in the evenings and weekends worked independently in mechanical, rather than electrical design. In addition to being an engineer, you see, he was an inventor. Or at least he hoped to be one.
In 1914, he filed a patent for his greatest invention. You probably use Sundbäck’s invention a lot; maybe even every day. But you’ve probably never heard of him. That’s because instead of calling his invention the Gideon Sundbäck Separable Fastener (to be honest, that is what he called it in his patent application), Sundbäck’s device quickly became known as the zipper.
