Margaret Smith, age 9, of Santa Maria, California, for her question:

Who invented scissors?

We tend to think that all of our useful gadgets were inverted in modern times. However, it is wise to remember that our remote ancestors were smart people. Some of them were just as bright as we are. Knives, levers and a lot of other basic tools were invented thousands of years ago. The wheel was invented in prehistoric times and goodness knows who invented it. The invention of the basic design for our modern scissors goes back almost to these ancient days of human history.

The earliest tools were made of wood and stone. Neither of these materials were suitable for making scissors. But several thousand years ago mankind learned how to forge metals. He made knives, sharp knives. And almost at once he saw how two knives could be joined together with a metal pin to create a pair of shears. No doubt the invention was made many times but nobody thought to record it. We do not know who first invented shears, but the metal work of the 11th centuray A.D. was very fine and at that time people almost everywhere were making sharp, good quality scissors