Aperture Science was founded as Aperture Fixtures in the early 1940s by Cave Johnson. Aperture Fixtures was primarily dedicated to the manufacture and distribution of shower curtains – a low-tech portal between the inside and outside of a shower – with Cave Johnson winning the "Shower Curtain Salesman of 1943" award. In 1943 the company's name was changed to "Aperture Science Innovators".
Throughout the late 1940s and the 1950s, Aperture Science would begin its comprehensive testing and research practices. Aperture's developments in this period included reality bending and various new types of sound design technology.