Friday, February 12, 2010

Frisbee inventor dies - Walter Fredrick "Fred" Morrison

Walter Frederick (Fred) Morrison - inventor of the Frisbee

Two years ago I blogged about the death of marketing giant Richard Knerr. His obituary in the Times explained:

When [Knerr and his business partner] saw Fred Morrison playing with a plastic flying disc he called the “Pluto Platter” they bought the idea from him, modified the design and, as the Frisbee, it sold in millions in the late 1950s.

A “professional” model was developed in the 1960s, and the team sport Ultimate Frisbee is still popular among students in the US and the UK.

Today the news broke of the death of Frisbee inventor Walter Fredrick "Fred" Morrison (pictured above). That ever-authoritative source Wikipedia explains the origin of the Frisbee.

“Fred claimed that the original idea came to him while throwing a popcorn can lid with his girlfriend, Lu, whom he later married. The popcorn lid soon dented which led to the discovery that cake pans flew better and were more common.”

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