Photo: Alpantex, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Who He Was
Franz Greiter was a chemist and mountain climber who helped develop and popularize the SPF rating printed on sunscreen today. In 1938, while he was a chemistry student, he got a bad sunburn climbing Piz Buin, a mountain in the Alps. The sunburn inspired him to develop a cream to protect skin from the sun, and in 1946 he introduced Gletscher Crème, or Glacier Cream, which was sold under the brand name Piz Buin, after the mountain. Building on earlier scientists’ work, he helped create the sun protection factor, or SPF, a number that shows how well a sunscreen protects skin from the sun’s burning UVB rays. His first cream is estimated to have had an SPF of only about 2.
Why He Matters
Franz Greiter gave people a simple way to compare sunscreens, using a number on the bottle. He refined his SPF system in 1974, and SPF became the global standard for measuring sunburn protection. Dermatologists today recommend a broad-spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher. Estheticians use that advice when they teach clients about sun protection, and the number on the bottle goes back to his work. His story shows that a bad day, like a sunburn on a mountain, can lead to an idea that helps people for decades.
