Aperture Fixtures was founded in the early 1940s by Cave Johnson as a shower curtain manufacturer—the name “Aperture Fixtures” was chosen “to make the curtains appear more hygienic”—and by 1943, Cave’s company was routinely earning the annual Shower Curtain Salesman award. Using his newly accumulated funds, Cave invested in real estate and purchased a vast, decommissioned salt mine in Michigan in January 1944. Aperture Science Innovators was incorporated in 1947, receiving the Best New Science Company Award that same year, granted by the Science and Business Institute of America. Its long rivalry with Black Mesa started at the same time: Aperture was #2 on the Top 100 Applied Science Companies ranking for 1949, starting a pattern that would never be broken.
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