ABSTRACT
From the earliest use of mud and clays to protect skin from the sun’s burning rays, today’s
sunscreen products have come a long way in efficacy, convenience, and elegance. In the
late 1930s, Dr. Franz Greiter, a Swiss chemist and amateur mountain climber, was annoyed
by being frequently sunburned at high altitudes and started compounding sunscreening
lotions in his laboratory to protect himself from sunburn. This led ultimately to the founding
of the Greiter company, which marketed products under the Piz Buin1 brand. Veterans
from the Pacific Theater may remember the “red veterinary petrolatum” provided in life
rafts and survival kits as a sunscreen, a heavy greasy ointment containing an undefined UV-
absorbing contaminant, which was quite substantive against water exposure, for obvious
reasons. Unfortunately, the UV protection was more limited compared with its wash
resistance. This compound and improved sunscreen formulations are credited to
Dr. Benjamin Greene, a Florida physician, who needed a sunscreen to protect his balding
pate. His discoveries resulted in the brand known today as Coppertone1 (1).
