Bette Nesmith Graham

Bette Nesmith Graham ( born March 23, 1924 in Dallas as Bette Clair McMurray; † 12 May 1980, Richardson, Texas) was an American entrepreneur. She invented a liquid for fixing typos, which was marketed under the Trademark Liquid Paper ( "liquid paper " ) and was known in Germany as Tipp-Ex.

At the age of 19 she married her first husband Warren Nesmith. During his absence as a soldier in World War II, she brought her son Michael Nesmith to the world, who later became famous as a member of the band The Monkees. After divorcing her husband in 1946, she had herself and her son get through alone and worked from 1951 as a secretary at the " Texas Bank and Trust " in Dallas. During this time the newly introduced electric typewriters caused problems because the keystroke was smooth and the numerous resulting typos could not be eradicated without leaving visible traces on the paper. Graham was a hobby painter and had to cover up the idea typo instead. To this end, she mixed a color temperature to match the paper color, which could then be applied with a brush to the incorrect character and overwritten after drying. Initially, this produced in homework correction fluid, which she called Mistake Out, was used only by itself and some colleagues. An attempt to sell the idea to IBM, failed in 1957. Subsequently, Graham began to market the product itself. An ad in the magazine The Office brought her in 1958, the first major orders one. The General Electric ordered 300 bottles, which exceeded its then monthly production by far. In 1962, she married Robert M. Graham, who joined in their company. In 1963 it increased its production by tenfold to 5,000 bottles per month. 1968 the company moved to its own factory building in Dallas and sold this year for the first time a million bottles of the now patented and renamed Liquid Paper correction fluid. The company continued to expand, 1975 500 bottles per minute were produced. In the same year it came to the divorce from her husband, but remained a leading function in the company. As a result, it came to disputes between her and the board. In 1979, the Liquid Paper Corporation was sold for almost 48 million dollars to Gillette.

Bette Graham, who belonged to the Doctrine of the Faith Christian Science, founded two foundations: . Betty Clair McMurray Foundation in 1976 and the Gihon Foundation 1978, you encouraged in particular artists.

• Woman
• Americans
• Inventor
• Entrepreneur
• Born in 1924
• Died in 1980