Common items named after real people

Team Udayavani, May 11, 2021, 2:17 PM IST

Source: Unsplash

A common item or concept that becomes a household name after the actual person behind it is gone. There are so many things we use today which were actually named after a person. Let’s have a look at some common items named after real people.

1. Jacuzzi: Invented by the Jacuzzi brothers, who immigrated to California from Italy in the early 1900s, Roy Jacuzzi developed the first integrated whirlpool bath, called the Roman, boasting integrated jets.
2. Mesmerize: In 18th-century Vienna physician, Franz Anton Mesmer founded “mesmerism,” which means to to capture someone’s attention completely, and used to mean hypnotize.
3. Ferris Wheel: Partly in response to France’s celebrated success in building the Eiffel Tower, George Washington Gale Ferris Jr., a 33-year-old engineer from Pittsburgh, developed the wheel for the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
4. Saxophone: In the 19th century, Adolphe Sax was a Belgian musical instrument designer who was proficient in playing a variety of wind instruments. He decided to create an instrument that combined the best features of woodwind and brass instruments, giving birth to the saxophone (the voice of Sax), in the 1840s.
5. Nicotine: Tobacco and its nicotine compound didn’t have unsavory reputations when Jean Nicot, the French ambassador to Portugal, sent tobacco seeds to Paris in 1550 and started a habit that many regret today.