From Mary Bellis,
Your Guide to Inventors.
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The bikini was invented in 1946 and named after the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, the site of atomic bomb testing.

Jacques Heim and Louis Reard - Bikini Inventors

The inventors were two Frenchmen, Jacques Heim and Louis Reard. Of course, Heim and Reard didn't create the idea of the bikini; drawings of bikini-like suits have been found on wall paintings dating back to 1600 B.C.

Atome Bikini

The modern term "bikini" for a particular bathing suit design was first used by Heim and Reard (who were, in reality, the re-inventors of the bikini). Heim was a couturier designer from Cannes, France, who had designed a very small bathing suit called the "Atome" (french for atom). He hired a skywriting plane to advertise his design by skywriting "Atome -- the world's smallest bathing suit" Three weeks later, Reard, a mechanical engineer, had another skywriting plane write "Bikini -- smaller than the smallest bathing suit in the world."

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