Kilmer House

In recognition of the 100th anniversary of the passing of Johnson & Johnson founder Robert Wood Johnson in 1910, this is one of several posts looking at the earliest years of Johnson & Johnson, Robert Wood Johnson as our first president, and the Company’s first senior management transition. Robert Wood Johnson Invisible men?  Time travel?  Teleportation?  What do those ideas have to do with Johnson & Johnson?  They sound more like science fiction – and they were.  They appeared first in short stories written in 1881 by Edward Page Mitchell, one of the earliest pioneers of science

By the time Fred Kilmer wrote back to Sir Joseph Lister in 1891, he was able to describe in great detail the Company’s sterilization and manufacturing procedures – including our Aseptic Room, the steam sterilizers and the water filtration system.  These high-tech facilities and pioneering equipment were all made possible by another partnership during the early days of Johnson & Johnson: the partnership between science and engineering as personified by James Wood Johnson and Fred Kilmer. Mr. Science…meet Mr. Engineering. Fred Kilmer (left) and James Wood Johnson (right) When James Wood John

Fads and Cranks Wanted. If believers in antiseptic surgery were “fads and cranks” in 1897, then they were just the people Johnson & Johnson was looking for! In July of 1897, Fred Kilmer noted that “A leading drug journal recently treated editorially the whole practice of aseptic and antiseptic wound treatment as " ‘a fad, practiced by cranks.’ ” “We may excuse the editor’s ignorance,” Kilmer wrote, and went on to explain: “The simple and seemingly endless details that make up an aseptic technique seem fussy to those who stand without, but go into any hospital clinic or operating room, witn

Surgery before it was sterile, with the surgeons in street clothing, and a complete lack of aseptic procedures. Although it seems hard to believe today, as recently as the late 1800s the concept that surgery should be sterile was still facing an uphill battle.  Some people found it hard to believe that invisible “germs” (as they were called) were causing the high rates of post-surgical infections.  Others (some surgeons included) still believed that infections weren’t caused by germs at all, which inclined them to view sterile surgery as an unnecessary affectation.  Surgeons who did want to tr

Fred Kilmer In 1889, one of the most remarkable employees in the history of Johnson & Johnson arrived at our growing array of buildings as our new director of scientific affairs.  Just as the arrival of Robert Wood Johnson had created a whirlwind of excitement and activity at Johnson & Johnson, the entrance of the quiet, more introverted Fred Kilmer was about to do the same. Modern Methods of Antiseptic Wound Treatment: Published in 1888, it helped spread the adoption of antiseptic surgery. Since Kilmer had put together the groundbreaking Modern Methods of Antiseptic Wound Treatment fo

The countless female scientists in the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies across the world are examples of the pioneering work that women in science do every day.  With so many necessary efforts underway to encourage girls and young women to study science, technology, engineering and math (referred to as STEM), women scientists are crucial role models for girls aspiring to careers in these fields.  Johnson & Johnson has known that women make good scientists for a long time.  Way back in 1907 or 1908, when the barriers to women in science were much higher, Johnson & Johnson hired

As we celebrate Veterans Day in the U.S. and Remembrance Day elsewhere in the world, we salute the men and women who serve their countries. A Johnson & Johnson employee, "Somewhere in France," during World War I. From our archives. Johnson & Johnson has a long heritage of employees serving in the military, dating back to 1898, and the Company has supported the men and women who serve their countries for well over a century.  As the younger brothers of Union Army veterans, the three founders of Johnson & Johnson had tremendous respect for those who serve and a desire to do what the

Since its origins in 1911, International Women’s Day has been a day to recognize the leadership of women and to mark their economic, political and social achievements. This year’s theme is Make it Happen, and women have been making things happen at Johnson & Johnson since our founding in 1886. In recognition of the contributions of women everywhere, here’s a look at ten ways that women have shaped Johnson & Johnson. 1.  1886: Women helped start the company! When Johnson & Johnson was founded in 1886, eight of our first 14 employees – more than half! – were women. Those employees w

In recognition of the 100th anniversary of the passing of Johnson & Johnson founder Robert Wood Johnson in 1910, this is one of several posts looking at the earliest years of Johnson & Johnson, Robert Wood Johnson as our first president, and the Company’s first senior management transition. It’s 1887 and Johnson & Johnson has grown in just one year from 14 employees in one building to 125 employees in several buildings.  Our original building from 1886, the four-story former wallpaper factory, is now the plaster mill, filled with machinery designed by founder James Wood Johnson to

The Johnson & Johnson Museum, formerly the company's Powerhouse. Today, the oldest building on the Johnson & Johnson New Brunswick campus – and the only one remaining from the days of our founders – is our museum building.  At first glance, the building may look like the steadfast, unchanging reminder of an earlier era.  But behind the timeless, rich patina of the brick, that peaked roof and those mullioned windows, it’s an example of the continuing path of cutting-edge innovation at Johnson & Johnson.  The museum building originally was the new Powerhouse, built in 1907 to generat