Beckman Coulter, Inc. is a

Danaher Corporation Danaher Corporation is an American global conglomerate founded in 1984 by brothers Steven and Mitchell Rales. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the company designs, manufactures, and markets medical, industrial, and commercial products and ...

company that develops, manufactures, and markets products relevant to biomedical testing. It operates in the industries of

diagnostics Diagnosis (: diagnoses) is the identification of the nature and cause of a certain phenomenon. Diagnosis is used in a lot of different disciplines, with variations in the use of logic, analytics, and experience, to determine " cause and effect". ...

under the brand name Beckman Coulter and

life sciences This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, ...

under the brand name Beckman Coulter Life Sciences. The company was established in 1935 as National Technical Laboratories, and has become an international company through growth and acquisitions of other life sciences organizations. The company employs over 12,000 people, with $5.8 billion in annual sales by 2017. It is currently headquartered in

Brea, California Brea (; ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States. The population as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census was 47,325. It is southeast of Los Angeles. Brea is part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The city ...

. Beckman Coulter was acquired by

in 2011.

History

The company was founded by

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private university, private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small g ...

professor Arnold O. Beckman in 1935 as National Technical Laboratories to commercialize a

pH meter A pH meter is a scientific instrument that measures the hydrogen-ion activity in water-based solutions, indicating its acidity or alkalinity expressed as pH. The pH meter measures the difference in electrical potential between a pH electro ...

that he had invented. In the 1940s, Beckman changed the name to Arnold O. Beckman, Inc. to sell oxygen analyzers, the ''Helipot'' precision

potentiometer A potentiometer is a three- terminal resistor with a sliding or rotating contact that forms an adjustable voltage divider. If only two terminals are used, one end and the wiper, it acts as a variable resistor or rheostat. The measuring instrum ...

, and spectrophotometers. In the 1950s, the company name changed to Beckman Instruments, Inc. In the 1950s, Beckman Instruments developed the EASE series of

analog computer An analog computer or analogue computer is a type of computation machine (computer) that uses physical phenomena such as Electrical network, electrical, Mechanics, mechanical, or Hydraulics, hydraulic quantities behaving according to the math ...

s, two of which were used by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

in the 1960s for

real-time simulation Real-time simulation refers to a computer model of a physical system that can execute at the same rate as actual "wall clock" time. In other words, the computer model runs at the same rate as the actual physical system. For example, if a tank take ...

during the development of the

Apollo Guidance Computer The Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) was a digital computer produced for the Apollo program that was installed on board each Apollo command module (CM) and Apollo Lunar Module (LM). The AGC provided computation and electronic interfaces for guidanc ...

. In 1954, Beckman Instruments acquired

ultracentrifuge An ultracentrifuge is a centrifuge optimized for spinning a rotor at very high speeds, capable of generating acceleration as high as (approx. ). There are two kinds of ultracentrifuges, the preparative and the analytical ultracentrifuge. Both cla ...

maker Spinco (Specialized Instruments Corp.). The Spinco division went on to design and manufacture a broad range of laboratory

centrifuge A centrifuge is a device that uses centrifugal force to subject a specimen to a specified constant force - for example, to separate various components of a fluid. This is achieved by spinning the fluid at high speed within a container, thereby ...

s. In 1955, Beckman established the seminal

Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory, later known as Shockley Transistor Corporation, was a pioneering semiconductor developer founded by William Shockley, and funded by Beckman Instruments, Inc., in 1955. It was the first high technology compan ...

as a division of Beckman Instruments to begin commercializing the semiconductor

transistor A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch electrical signals and electric power, power. It is one of the basic building blocks of modern electronics. It is composed of semicondu ...

technology invented by

alumnus

William Shockley William Bradford Shockley ( ; February 13, 1910 – August 12, 1989) was an American solid-state physicist, electrical engineer, and inventor. He was the manager of a research group at Bell Labs that included John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brat ...

. Because Shockley's aging mother lived in

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

, the Shockley Laboratory was established in nearby

Mountain View, California Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, the population was 82,376 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Mountain V ...

, which has been connected to the growth of

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

. In 1961, Beckman acquired Offner Electronics, a company founded by inventor Franklin F. Offner. In 1982, the company merged into

SmithKline GSK plc (an acronym from its former name GlaxoSmithKline plc) is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with headquarters in London. It was established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham, wh ...

to form SmithKline Beckman, with Arnold Beckman as vice chairman, but regained its independence in 1989 after SmithKline merged with ''Beecham Group'' to form SmithKline Beecham (now part of

GlaxoSmithKline GSK plc (an acronym from its former name GlaxoSmithKline plc) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with headquarters in London. It was established in 2000 by a Mergers an ...

). In 1995, the company acquired Hybritech, Inc. from

Eli Lilly Eli Lilly (July 8, 1838 – June 6, 1898) was a Union Army officer, pharmacist, chemist, and businessman who founded Eli Lilly and Company. Lilly enlisted in the Union Army during the American Civil War and recruited a company of men to ...

. In 1996, the company acquired the Sanofi portion of

Sanofi Pasteur Sanofi Pasteur is the vaccines division of the French multinational pharmaceutical company Sanofi. Sanofi Pasteur is the largest company in the world devoted entirely to vaccines. It is one of four global producers of the yellow fever vaccin ...

Diagnostics. In 1998, the company acquired ''Coulter Corporation'', a company founded by Wallace H. Coulter, the inventor of the

Coulter counter A Coulter counter is an apparatus for counting and sizing particles suspended in electrolytes. The Coulter counter is the commercial term for the technique known as resistive pulse sensing or electrical zone sensing. The apparatus is based on t ...

. Beckman, thereafter, changed its name to Beckman Coulter. By 2003, the company has more than 200,000 systems operating in laboratories around the world. In 2005, the company acquired Diagnostic Systems Laboratories (DSL) based in

Webster, Texas Webster is a city in the U.S. state of Texas located in Harris County, within the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area. Its population was 12,499 at the 2020 U.S. census. History The community was founded in 1879 by James ...

. In 2006, the company acquired Lumigen and Agencourt Bioscience. In 2007, the company acquired the Flow Cytometry Business Group of Dako North America, Inc. In 2009, the company acquired Lab-based Diagnostics business of

Olympus Corporation is a Japanese manufacturer of optics and reprography products, headquartered in Hachioji, Tokyo. Olympus was established in 1919, initially specializing in microscopes and thermometers, and later in imaging. Olympus holds roughly a 70 percent sh ...

Japan. That same year, the company moved its world headquarters from

Fullerton, California Fullerton ( ) is a city located in northern Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 143,617. Fullerton was founded in 1887. It secured the land on behalf of the Atchison, Topeka and S ...

to the newly renovated facility in

. In February 2011, Danaher announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Beckman Coulter. On June 30, 2011, Danaher finalized the acquisition of Beckman Coulter. On September 12, 2012 Danaher acquired Iris Diagnostics and its parent company IRIS International, Inc. as leader in Urinalysis Diagnostic to further boost Danaher's Diagnostic business within Beckman Coulter. Subsequently, the business was divided into two operating companies within Danaher, Beckman Coulter focused on diagnostics segments and Beckman Coulter Life Sciences focused on biomedical research and development segments. On February 1, 2015, the company finalized the acquisition of MicroScan from

Siemens Healthcare Siemens Healthineers is a German multinational company with specializing in medical technology. It was spun off from its parent company Siemens in 2017, which retains a 75% stake. Siemens Healthineers is the parent company for several medical te ...

. On January 3, 2019, Beckman Coulter Life Sciences announced the acquisition of Labcyte, Inc., a privately held manufacturer of acoustic liquid handlers. On May 2, 2019, Beckman Coulter Life Sciences finalized their acquisition of EDC Biosciences, a privately held manufacturer of acoustic liquid handlers.

References

External links

Beckman Coulter DiagnosticsBeckman Coulter Life SciencesBeckman Historical Collection

Science History Institute The Science History Institute is an institution that preserves and promotes understanding of the history of science. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it includes a library, museum, archive, research center and conference center. It was ...

br>Digital Collections
(Digitized corporate records of Beckman Coulter, Incorporated, as well as personal papers of American scientist and industrialist

Arnold Orville Beckman Arnold Orville Beckman (April 10, 1900 – May 18, 2004) was an American chemist, inventor, investor, and philanthropist. While a professor at California Institute of Technology, he founded Beckman Instruments based on his 1934 invention o ...

) {{Authority control Electronics companies of the United States Laboratory equipment manufacturers Research support companies Manufacturing companies based in Greater Los Angeles Companies based in Brea, California Electronics companies established in 1935 Danaher subsidiaries Superfund sites in California 1935 establishments in California 2011 mergers and acquisitions Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange