Erik Wallenberg

Despite the positive attention of the tetrahedron, Wallenberg did not get due recognition for the invention until 1991, when he was awarded the Grand Gold Medal by The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences for "his ideas and efforts in the development of the packaging system Tetra Pak".

Upon visiting the Tetra Pak factory in Lund in the 1950s, Danish Nobel Prize winner and Physics professor Niels Bohr called the tetrahedron "a perfect practical application of a mathematical problem", and the invention lay the foundation of the Tetra Pak success saga. The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences has called the Tetra Pak packaging system one of Sweden's most successful inventions of all times. The development of the triangular tetrahedron carton package, the rectangular Tetra Brik, was represented at the 2011 exhibition Hidden Heroes – The Genius of Everyday Things at the London Science Museum/Vitra Design Museum, celebrating "the miniature marvels we couldn’t live without".

After some initial hesitation, Ruben Rausing became convinced that the invention was a good idea and ordered the project to be developed. In March 1944 he filed for a patent, and in 1951 Tetra Pak was created as a subsidiary to Åkerlund & Rausing. The tetrahedron package made Tetra Pak one of the world's most successful companies. The package is still sold today under the name of Tetra Classic Aseptic.

In 1943, waiting to get accepted at Lund University, Wallenberg got a job as lab assistant at Åkerlund & Rausing, a local firm manufacturing food packaging. When his manager got drafted in 1944, he became head of the research lab, aged 28.

Erik Wallenberg (25 December 1915 – 18 October 1999) was a Swedish engineer. He is credited for inventing the Tetra Pak tetrahedron packaging in 1944.