In 1960, an IBM engineer named Forrest Parry was developing a new
type of ID card for the CIA when he had an epiphany: Why not make each card a
tiny data storage device in and of itself? He cut a short length of half-inch
wide magnetic tape from a reel and wrapped it around a blank plastic card,
secured it with Scotch tape, and then, at his wife’s suggestion, pressed it on
with a warm iron.
The magnetic stripe card was born.
