BEFORE HAND SANITIZER WAS EVEN AROUND PEOPLE KNEW THAT ALCOHOL COULD STERILIZE. ANCIENT EGYPTIANS USED ALCOHOL TO TREAT EYE INFECTIONS 5,000 YEARS AGO. BY 1930'S ETHANOL WAS THE PREFERRED SKIN ANTISEPTIC IN HOSPITALS. IT WAS NO SECRET THAT ALCOHOL KILLED GERMS - BUT THERE WAS NO REAL WAY TO APPLY IT ON THE GO AND AT HOME. IN 1966 A NURSING STUDENT NAMED LUPE HERNANDEZ FROM BAKERSFIELD, CALIFORNIA FOUND THE SOLUTION. THE STORY GOES THAT HERNANDEZ REALISED THAT ALCOHOL DELIVERED THROUGH A GEL COULD CLEAN HANDS IN A SITUATION WHERE THERE WAS NO ACCESS TO SOAP AND WARM WATER. RECOGNISING THE COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL OF HER IDEA, SHE DULY CALLED AN INVENTIONS HOTLINE SHE HAD HEARD ABOUT ON TELEVISION AND SET ABOUT REGISTERING THE PATENT. THUS DISCOVERING HAND SANITIZER.