Saturday, October 17, 2026

Question: One of seven brothers in Berkeley turned a water pump into a bathtub whirlpool to ease his son’s arthritis. The family’s surname is now a household word for a hot tub. What is that name?

Answer: Jacuzzi. The word is the surname of a family of seven brothers who ran a machine shop in Berkeley, building airplanes and water pumps. In the 1940s, Candido Jacuzzi adapted one of their pumps into a portable device to ease his young son’s arthritis in the bathtub. The family later brought the whirlpool bath to the home market, and their name became shorthand for it.