In 1948, a Philadelphia supermarket executive had a problem. He pleaded with a dean at Drexel Institute of Technology to create a system for automatically reading product information at checkout. The dean said it was impractical, but a graduate student named Bernard Silver overheard the conversation. He shared the challenge with his friend, Norman Joseph Woodland, a former engineer on the Manhattan Project. Woodland became obsessed. An early attempt using ultraviolet ink failed, being too expensive and fading quickly. Convinced a solution was possible, Woodland dropped out of graduate school entirely. He moved to his father’s apartment in Miami to work on the problem, and nothing else.
The Invention of the Barcode
How a sketch in Miami sand in 1949 became the barcode, from Woodland and Silver's bullseye patent to IBM's UPC and the first supermarket scan in 1974.
Chapter 1
A Plea at the Checkout
0:43
Frequently Asked Questions
Why was the first barcode a bullseye shape?
Inventor Norman Joseph Woodland designed the bullseye so it could be scanned from any direction. Early scanners had difficulty with orientation, and a circular code solved this problem.
What was the very first product ever scanned?
The first item scanned in a retail setting was a 10-pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit chewing gum. The scan took place at a Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio, on June 26, 1974.
Did the inventors of the barcode become rich?
No. Woodland and Silver sold their patent in 1952 for about $15,000. IBM, which later developed the UPC standard, offered the technology royalty-free to encourage universal adoption.
Learn more
To continue the story, download the Chunks Microlearning app
Or get it straight away:
Download on iOS
Download on Android