Caleb Bradham

Pharmacist, Inventor

1867 – 1934

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Who was Caleb Bradham?

Caleb Davis Bradham was a pharmacist and is best known for being the inventor of Pepsi. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was a member of the Philanthropic Society, and attended the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Circa 1890, he dropped out of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, owing to his father's business going bankrupt. After returning to North Carolina, he was a public school teacher for about a year, and soon thereafter opened a drug store in New Bern named the "Bradham Drug Company" that, like many other drug stores of the time, also housed a soda fountain.

This drug store, located on the corner of Middle Street and Pollock Street in downtown New Bern, is where Bradham, in 1893, invented the recipe—a blend of kola nut extract, vanilla, and "rare oils"—for what was initially known as "Brad's Drink," but on August 28, 1898 was renamed Pepsi-Cola. Bradham named his drink after a combination of the terms “pepsin” and “cola,” as he believed that his drink aided digestion much like the pepsin enzyme does, even though it was not used as an ingredient. His assistant James Henry King was the first to taste the new drink.

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Born
May 27, 1867
Chinquapin
Also known as
  • Caleb Davis Bradham
Spouses
Profession
Education
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • University of Maryland, Baltimore
Died
Feb 19, 1934
New Bern

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

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"Caleb Bradham." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/caleb_bradham>.

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