Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Beckman Coulter
Founded
Pasadena, California
(1935, as National
Technical Laboratories)
Industry
Biotechnology
Type:Public (NYSE: BEC)
Introduction & History
Beckman Coulter Inc., is a company that makes biomedical laboratory instruments. Founded by Caltech professor Arnold O. Beckman in 1935 as National Technical Laboratories to commercialize a pH meter that he had invented, the company eventually grew to employ over 10,000 people, with $2.4 billion in annual sales by 2004. Its current headquarters are in Fullerton, California.
In the 1940s, Beckman changed the name to Arnold O. Beckman, Inc. to sell oxygen analyzers, the Helipot precision
potentiometer, and spectrophotometers. In the 1950s, the company name changed to Beckman Instruments, Inc..
In 1955, Beckman established the seminal
Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory as a division of Beckman Instruments to begin commercializing the semiconductor transistor technology invented by Caltech alumnus William Shockley. Because Shockley's aging mother lived in Palo Alto, California, the Shockley Laboratory was established in nearby Mountain View, California, and thus, "Silicon Valley" was born.
In 1982, the company merged into
SmithKline 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).
In 1995, the company acquired Hybritech, Inc. from
Eli Lily
In 1996, the company acquired the Sanofi portion of Sanofi Pasteur Diagnostics
In 1998, the company acquired Coulter Corporation, a company founded by
Wallace H. Coulter and changed its name to what it is today.
In 2005, the company acquired Diagnostic Systems Laboratories (DSL) based in Webster, Texas.
In 2006, the company acquired Lumigen and Agencourt Bioscience.
Biomek platforms.
Synchron analyzers.
Immage Immunochemistry
system.
CEQ 2000 DNA
Analysis System.
▲$2.761 billion USD
10,595

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