Robert Wood Johnson I

With his brothers James Wood and Edward Mead Johnson, he founded Johnson & Johnson in 1886 to mass-produce sterile surgical dressings after hearing Joseph Lister argue that germs caused infection. Hospitals trusted the dressings because the company published guidance on antiseptic practice alongside them. First-aid kits and baby powder carried that clinical reputation into ordinary homes, which is why the name still reads as safe to many shoppers.