In the early 1960's, Norman Stingley, a California chemist, experimented in his spare time with compressing synthetic rubber under 3,500 pounds of pressure per square inch.

How SuperBalls Work What do you get when you take a gooey, rubberlike substance and compress it under 3,500 pounds of pressure?

Working in his spare time in 1965, Stingley took a gooey, rubberlike substance and compressed it under 3,500 pounds of pressure [source: Time Magazine].