One of the first sunscreens was invented by chemist Franz Greiter in 1938. Greiter's sunscreen was called Gletscher Crème or Glacier Cream and had a sun protection factor (SPF) of 2. The formula for Glacier Cream was picked up by a company called Piz Buin, named after the place Greiter was sunburned and inspired to invent sunscreen in. Franz Greiter also invented sun protection factor (SPF) in 1962, a standard for measuring the effectiveness of sunscreen when applied at an even rate of 2 milligrams per square centimeter.
One of the first popular sunscreen products was invented by airman and pharmacist, Benjamin Green in 1944. Green's patented sunscreen was called Red Vet Pet, and his patent was bought by Coppertone who sold it as Coppertone Girl" and "Bain de Soleil", in the early 1950s.
So you may have noticed I wrote "one" of the first. Who would have thought that the history of sunscreens was controversial? At least four different inventors have been credited as being the first to invent sunscreen. Photo Credit: Getty Images
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Surprised at multiple inventors?
Robert Heinlein once said, “When it’s time to railroad, everyone railroads.”
The history of invention is chock full of duplications and even patent rights that come down to the day(or less) that the application arrived at the patent office.
Took me decades to realize that things which I thought obvious were anything but to people doing the worked (I’m slow, I should have known that if they had known a better way they might have been using it.)
Of course my experience also tells me that people seldom adopt an easier or better way of doing anything…we are creatures of habit, and once a habit is developed, most people just turn off their brain and do what they do…and things run more efficiently. I can’t easily do that, so I fiddle with whatever, and there are always a great many more worse ways to do something than are better than the current method.
For instance, I seldom do well on a video game because I keep looking for other paths….
I agree – it’s like things were destined to be invented. If one person doesn’t do it. There will be someone who will. However, there is also a logic to the progression of inventions
It’s hard to come by well-informed people for this topic, however, you sound like you know what you’re talking about!
Thanks
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