Jakob Christof Rad, born March 25, 1799 in Rheinfelden (present day Switzerland), was a Swiss-born physician and industrial manager. Since 1840, Rad was the director of a sugar refinery in Moravian Dačice, currently in the South Bohemian Region of the CzR. The idea to produce sugar in cube form came from his wife, who cut herself while paring down the standard large, bulky commercial sugar loaf into smaller parts for use at home. He invented the process and associated machinery for cutting large sugar blocks into manageable uniform pieces, which he five-year-patented at the beginning of 1843.