Jeol Ltd
A maker of scientific instruments, best known for electron microscopes that let researchers see objects far too small for ordinary light — its transmission and scanning electron microscopes are used in labs studying materials, biology, and forensics. Founded in 1949 in Tokyo by Kenji Kazato, who was inspired to help rebuild postwar Japan through science, the company's name is an acronym for Japan Electron Optics Laboratory. Its very first microscope, the DA-1, was famously assembled on a wooden table in 1947, before the company even formally existed.