In 1857, 46-year-old Henri Nestle decided to leave the life of a traveling salesman behind and open his own company selling liquid gas for the street lamps of his hometown, Vevey, Switzerland.

Nestle soon became preoccupied, however, with a problem that plagued the people of that time.

In the 1850s, one in four new-born children did not live through the first year. Nestle wanted to change this. He felt that the solution was nutritious food that mothers who could not breast feed could give to their babies.

To create his product product, Nestle concentrated milk using an air pump and "a new process" that he invented. Initially, most of the food was sold by doctors.

Later, thanks to many medical endorsements, Nestle was able to take his product directly to the public. Nestle sold his baby food business in 1875, and had no more contact with its operations until his death in 1890. The champion of infant nutrition had no children of his own, and left no heirs. Of course, that wasn't the end of the Nestle story.

Nestle the company, went on to produce the first condensed milk in Europe and the product that made Nestle a household word--the first milk chocolate.