Robert C. Switzer (19 May 1914 – 20 August 1997) was an American inventor, businessman and environmentalist. Switzer was co-inventor of the first
black light fluorescent paint along with his brother Joseph Switzer and the inventor of the Magnaglo process for nondestructive flaw-detection in machined parts. The brothers founded the
Day-Glo Color Corp. in 1946 to develop and manufacture
fluorescent paints, pigments and other products.
Biography
Early life
Switzer was born in
Fromberg, Montana, to parents Maud (Slocum) and Emmet Switzer and was raised in
Berkeley California. In 1932, he received a scholarship from the
Scaife Scholarship Foundation of
Oakland, California
Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...
, so he attended the College of Chemistry at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
, in hopes of becoming a physician.
During the summer of 1933, while working to unload tomatoes from a freight car at a
H. J. Heinz Company laboratory in
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...
, Switzer fell and suffered several serious injuries, including a skull fracture and severed
optic nerve
In neuroanatomy, the optic nerve, also known as the second cranial nerve, cranial nerve II, or simply CN II, is a paired cranial nerve that transmits visual system, visual information from the retina to the brain. In humans, the optic nerve i ...
. Medical doctors told him to stay in a dark room until he recovered his eyesight, a period which lasted several months.
Career
While convalescing from his injuries, Switzer and his brother Joseph searched for
fluorescent
Fluorescence is one of two kinds of photoluminescence, the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. When exposed to ultraviolet radiation, many substances will glow (fluoresce) with color ...
materials, which Joseph had read about and wished to use in his amateur
magic shows. The brothers inspected various products from their father's pharmacy, using a
black light
A blacklight, also called a UV-A light, Wood's lamp, or ultraviolet light, is a lamp (fixture), lamp that emits long-wave (UV-A) ultraviolet light and very little visible light. One type of lamp has a violet light filter, filter material, eith ...
to identify fluorescent compounds. After Bob's recovery, the brothers continued to experiment with these, mixing them with
shellac
Shellac () is a resin secreted by the female Kerria lacca, lac bug on trees in the forests of India and Thailand. Chemically, it is mainly composed of aleuritic acid, jalaric acid, shellolic acid, and other natural waxes. It is processed and s ...
and eventually succeeding in producing the first
black light fluorescent paints. They founded the Fluor-S-Art Co. in 1934 to develop and market their products for advertising displays.
The brothers moved their company to Cleveland, Ohio, to partner with Continental Lithograph, a subsidiary of
Warner Brothers Pictures, that specialized in movie posters and advertisements. They developed and tested new applications for their fluorescent paints, including
lithography
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...
,
make-up
Cosmetics are substances that are intended for application to the body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering appearance. They are mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources or created syn ...
, and fabric dyes.
In 1938, Switzer invented Zyglo and Magnaglo, two
nondestructive testing
Nondestructive testing (NDT) is any of a wide group of analysis techniques used in science and technology industry to evaluate the properties of a material, component or system without causing damage.
The terms nondestructive examination (NDE), n ...
processes that use fluorescent dyes to identify defects in machined parts. The dyes penetrate small defects and are seen when inspecting the parts under black light.
During World War II, the company developed daylight fluorescent pigments, which are highly visible in daylight. Bob produced the first piece of
high-visibility clothing
High-visibility clothing, sometimes shortened to hi vis or hi viz, is any clothing worn that is highly luminescent in its natural matt property or a color that is easily discernible from any background. It is most commonly worn on the torso an ...
by dyeing his wife's wedding dress.
Personal life and legacy
Switzer married his wife Patricia (a Berkeley native) in 1936. The couple had three children. Switzer died in 1997 at his home in
Shaker Heights, Ohio
Shaker Heights is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's population was 29,439. Shaker Heights is an inner-ring streetcar suburb of Cleveland, abutting the eastern edge of the c ...
from complications from
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...
. He was 83 years old
When Day-Glo Color Corp. was sold to
Nalco in 1985, Bob and his wife used the proceeds to establish the
Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation to fund students working on applied environmental problem solving.
In 2009, "The Day-Glo Brothers," a children's book about Bob and Joseph Switzer's invention of fluorescent materials, was published by author
Chris Barton and illustrator Tony Persiani.
References
*The Guardian
How the world turned Day-GloDay-Glo Color Corporation website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Switzer, Robert
1914 births
1997 deaths
University of California, Berkeley alumni
Neurological disease deaths in Ohio
Deaths from Parkinson's disease in the United States
People from Shaker Heights, Ohio
20th-century American inventors