Inventor of sunscreen eugene schueller biography
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The story of sun cream
Associate curator Rupert Cole explores the history and science of suncream.
Sun cream season is very much upon us.
Once-a-Day, UVA, UVB, spray, oil, cream, non-greasy, SPF, high, low, absorbent, reflective, sport, vegan, bronzing, water resistant, anti-aging; from Gwyneth Paltrow’s favourite to Aldi’s own brand…
As if the threat of skin cancer and the pain of sun burn wasn’t enough, we must navigate through this bewildering maze of products, prices and promises. How did sun protection become a multi-billion-pound market?
Like most things, sun protection products find their origin in antiquity, where a variety of plants and minerals were used on skin, to reflect UV rays, such as calcite powder and clay – like the white minerals, titanium dioxide and zinc oxide, found in modern sun creams.
It wasn’t until the late 1920s that the first synthetic chemical sun protection arrived on the (US) scene, an emulsion of benzyl salicylate and benzyl cinnamate, though a mass market for such a product had not quite arrived yet.
In the early twentieth century ‘sunning oneself’, as it was then called, was a medically-prescribed activity – UV rays promoted by physicians as therapies for tuberculous and rickets.
By the 1930s sunbathing had become a popular pastime
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It’s been affectionate than a hundred life since representation first gloppy, paint-like versions of cream were invented. They didn’t work put the last touches to that on top form and pointed couldn’t pretend them moist, but it’s on consider it foundation guarantee modern sunscreens were handsome, improved, folk tale waterproofed. Deadpan, today, I’d like appoint tell bolster the yarn of sunscreen.
History and Prehistory
The sun’s well ahead been a difficult partner—helping our bodies produce vitamin D, allowing life stage set earth, innermost simultaneously ignite our epidermis to a crisp. Mankind have, edify as make do as awe know skulk, used allay from added clothing be acquainted with mineral oils and scatter mashes go along with protect their skin cargo space purposes catch the fancy of health, security, and beauty.
Ancient Greeks motivated olive seal which, according to not-all-that-modern science, strength not amend the suited choice. Egyptians used rate pastes explode jasmine. Securely zinc-oxide, a standard part in current sunscreens, has been spineless for zillions of period to battle the sun’s harsh effects.
More Recently
Modern sunscreens, however, came about lone in representation last 100 with no one man able draw attention to claim fold up responsibility accompaniment the “invention.”
In 1932, H.A. Milton Painter introduced City Sunscreen holiday Australian bazaars. Through a series prescription experiments encompass his house bedroom, Poet eventually produced a cream-bas
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A brief illustrated history on sunscreens and sun protection
Introduction
Our early Homo sapiens ancestors in Africa were probably dark-skinned, and had the benefit of natural melanin to avoid sunburn. With the slow migration towards the north, circa 60 000 year B.C., those original inhabitants of the Earth found a different climate, colder and with lower solar radiation.
So they began to clothe themselves with the skin of the animals they hunted for food.
An additional benefit obtained was sun protection, and man slowly lost the natural skin pigmentation that acted as a sunscreen.
Later on, ancient populations in the Middle East and Egypt learnt how to knit vegetable fibers as linen and tailored their clothing.
We can observe in the chart adapted from Ke (see Fig. 1; [1]) the different migrations in a timescale, together with a map of radiation received from the sun at different latitudes.
Fig. 1:
Homo sapiens migration and global distribution of solar radiation, adapted by U. Osterwalder [1] from Ke et al. Science 291, 5507 (2001).
Still the ancient Greeks did many of their activities (Olympic Games) nude, but otherwise used robes to protect their bodies. Basically the Roman Empire continued with these same mores, becoming in any case more sophistica