The real story
George de Mestral was a Swiss electrical engineer who liked walking in the Alps. After one walk with his dog (usually dated to 1941, though some accounts say 1948) he put a burdock burr under his microscope and saw hundreds of tiny hooks that caught on any loop of fur or thread. He decided to copy it.
Weavers in Lyon helped him with early cotton versions, which wore out fast. It took about a decade to find that nylon, sewn and then hardened under infrared light, made durable hooks. He patented it in 1955 and called it Velcro, from the French 'velours' (velvet) and 'crochet' (hook). NASA used it in spacecraft to keep floating objects in place, which made it famous.
