who invented chewing gum

The invention of chewing gum cannot be attributed to a single person, as it has a complex history involving several contributors over time. However, the first person to patent a chewing gum was William Semple, a dentist, who in 1869 patented a gum made of charcoal and chalk. The commercial chewing gum industry took off when Thomas Adams experimented with chicle (a natural gum from Central American trees) in the late 19th century, creating chewing gum sticks and patenting a machine for their production. Thomas Adams is often credited with pioneering the modern chewing gum industry. Before Adams, John B. Curtis sold the first commercial chewing gum made from spruce tree resin in 1848, and later William Wrigley Jr. became a major figure in the gum business after founding his company in 1891.