Battelle Memorial Institute (more widely known as simply Battelle) is a private

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

applied science and technology development company headquartered in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, an ...

. Battelle is a charitable trust organized as a nonprofit corporation under the laws of the State of Ohio and is exempt from taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code because it is organized for charitable, scientific and education purposes. The institute opened in 1929 but traces its origins to the 1923 will of Ohio

industrialist A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through per ...

Gordon Battelle which provided for its creation and his mother Annie Maude Norton Battelle who left the bulk of the family fortune to the institute after her death in 1925. Originally focusing on contract research and development work in the areas of metals and material science, Battelle is now an international science and technology enterprise that explores emerging areas of science, develops and commercializes technology, and manages laboratories for customers.

Contract research business

Battelle serves the following: * Agribusiness: cannabis research, encapsulation, formulation, environmental fate, spray drift and droplet characterization * Ecology & Environment: scientific data packages for researchers, air, water and soil analysis, assessment and remediation * Health: genomics, life sciences research, medical device development, neurotechnology, public health studies * Materials Science: analytical chemistry, characterization, coatings, compounds and structures, corrosion studies, nanoparticles and materials * National Security: aviation and aerospace technologies, chemical and biological defense systems, cyber innovations, ground tactical systems, maritime technologies * Research Infrastructure: Biosafety Laboratory 3 (BSL3) operations, chemical demilitarization facilities, National Ecological Observatory Network, national laboratory management * STEM Education: BattelleEd, STEMX, Battelle Arts Grant, STEM Learning Networks In addition to its Columbus (Ohio) headquarters, Battelle has offices in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), a ...

(Maryland), West Jefferson (Ohio),

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

(Washington), Arlington (Virginia), Norwell (Massachusetts),

Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen ...

(Virginia),

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

(Maryland),

Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In ...

(Colorado) and Egg Harbor Township (New Jersey).

National laboratory management

In addition to operating its own research facilities, as of 2022, Battelle manages or co-manages on behalf of the

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United States ...

the following national laboratories: * Brookhaven National Laboratory (through Brookhaven Science Associates, LLC – a collaboration between Battelle and

Stony Brook University Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York system' ...

) *

Idaho National Laboratory Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is one of the national laboratories of the United States Department of Energy and is managed by the Battelle Energy Alliance. While the laboratory does other research, historically it has been involved with nu ...

(through the Battelle Energy Alliance – a collaboration between Battelle, BWX Technologies, Inc., Washington Group International,

Electric Power Research Institute EPRI, is an American independent, nonprofit organization that conducts research and development related to the generation, delivery, and use of electricity to help address challenges in the energy industry, including reliability, efficiency, aff ...

and an alliance of universities) *

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a federal research facility in Livermore, California, United States. The lab was originally established as the University of California Radiation Laboratory, Livermore Branch in 1952 in response ...

(through Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC – a collaboration between Battelle, BWX Technologies, Inc., Washington Group International, the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, University of Califor ...

, Bechtel National, and The Texas A&M University System) *

Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, ...

(through Triad National Security, LLC – a collaboration between Battelle, the

, and The Texas A&M University System) * National Renewable Energy Laboratory (in partnership with MRIGlobal as part of the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC) *

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a U.S. multiprogram science and technology national laboratory sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and administered, managed, and operated by UT–Battelle as a federally funded research an ...

(through UT-Battelle, LLC – a collaboration between Battelle and the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th sta ...

) *

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is one of the United States Department of Energy national laboratories, managed by the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science. The main campus of the laboratory is in Richland, Washington. ...

Savannah River National Laboratory The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) is a multi-program national laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Environmental Management. SRNL is located at the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Jackson, South Carolina. I ...

(through the Battelle Savannah River Alliance) Additionally, on behalf of the

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-ter ...

: * National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center National Science Foundation projects: * In March 2016, Battelle was selected to manage the completion of the

National Ecological Observatory Network National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is a large facility program operated by Battelle Memorial Institute and funded by the National Science Foundation. In full operation since 2019, NEON gathers and provides long-term, standardized da ...

(NEON) for the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...

Notable projects

In the 1940s, Battelle's Vice-President of Engineering, John Crout made it possible for Battelle researchers, including William Bixby and Paul Andrus, to develop

Chester Carlson Chester Floyd Carlson (February 8, 1906 – September 19, 1968) was an American physicist, inventor, and patent attorney born in Seattle, Washington. Carlson invented electrophotography, the process used by millions of photocopiers worldwide. C ...

's concept of dry copying. Carlson had been turned down for funding by more than a dozen agencies including the U.S. Navy. Work led to the first commercial xerographic equipment, and to the formation of

Xerox Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (having moved from St ...

corporation. Battelle also developed the first nuclear fuel rods for nuclear reactors, numerous advances in metallurgy that helped advance the United States space program, algorithms and coatings that led to the first optical digital recorder developed by James Russell, which paved the way for the first compact disc, and the first generation jet engines using titanium alloys. Other advances included the armor plating for

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful ...

s in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

; Snopake, the first

correction fluid A correction fluid is an opaque, usually white fluid applied to paper to mask errors in text. Once dried, it can be handwritten or typed upon. It is typically packaged in small bottles, lids attached to brushes (or triangular pieces of foam) th ...

, developed in 1955; the fuel for the first nuclear submarine, the USS Nautilus (SSN-571); development of the Universal Product Code in 1965;

cruise control Cruise control (also known as speed control, cruise command, autocruise, or tempomat) is a system that automatically controls the speed of a motor vehicle. The system is a servomechanism that takes over the throttle of the car to maintain a ...

for automobiles in 1970; and the first all- sputtered photovoltaic cell for

solar energy Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating), and solar architecture. It is an essen ...

in 1974. In 1987, PIRI, a

fiber optics An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means t ...

venture with Mitsubishi and NTT, was launched, which resulted in a $1.8 billion market. In conjunction with Kevin M. Amula, Battelle Geneva developed "No-melt"

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec ci ...

in 1988. Battelle has made numerous medical advances, including a 1972 breakthrough development of special tubing to prevent blood clots during surgical procedures, and more recently, the development of reusable insulin injection pen, including dose memory, with Eli Lilly and Co. Battelle was the contractor for a computer system on which the Voter News Service relied for tallying exit polling data in the November 2002 U.S. Congressional and Senate elections; the system failed and results were not reported until ten months after the election. The failure led to the disbanding of the VNS and the formation of its replacement, the

National Election Pool The National Election Pool (NEP) is a consortium of American news organizations formed in 2003 to provide exit polling information for US elections, replacing the Voter News Service which had failed disastrously in 2002. The system produced sk ...

. In April 2020, Battelle Memorial Institute partnered with Ohio State University to distribute rapid tests for Covid-19, with results in less than 5 hours. On March 29, 2020, Battelle announced that it had received an Emergency Use Authorization to deploy a system to decontaminate N95 respirators for healthcare providers. Battelle received a $400 million contract from the Defense Logistics Agency for the project, known as the Critical Care Decontamination System (CCDS). Following the conclusion of the program in May 2021, Battelle invoiced $155 million, with 5 million masks decontaminated and an average cost of $31 per mask.

Battelle Center for Science and Technology Policy (OSU/Glenn)

Battelle provides funds for a public policy research center at the John Glenn College of Public Affairs of

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...

to focus on scholarly questions associated with science and technology policy. The Battelle Center for Science and Technology Policy began official operation in July 2011.

Nonprofit status

From 1969 to 1975, the institute was involved in a lawsuit over whether it was "neglecting its philanthropic promises" as a nonprofit organization. It reached an $80 million settlement in 1975 (), used to demolish Union Station, build

Battelle Hall Battelle Hall (originally known as the Ohio Center) is a 6,864 seat multi-purpose exhibit hall located in Columbus, Ohio, part of the Greater Columbus Convention Center. It opened as the Ohio Center on September 10, 1980, and although sometimes co ...

at the Columbus Convention Center, refurbish the

Ohio Theatre Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The ...

and create Battelle-Darby Creek Metro Park. The institute lost its nonprofit status in the 1990s, though regained it by 2001.

References

External links

*
90 Year History of Battelle website
* * {{authority control Companies based in the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area Historic American Engineering Record in Ohio Research institutes in Ohio Multidisciplinary research institutes Science and technology think tanks 1929 establishments in Ohio University District (Columbus, Ohio)