Beckman Foundation Founding Documents

Beckman Instruments was a scientific instruments company founded by Arnold O. Beckman in 1935. Initially named National Technical Laboratories, it was one of the largest manufacturers of scientific instruments in the United States. Beckman founded Beckman Instruments while he was a member of the faculty at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Beckman Instruments’ first product was an “acidimeter”, later renamed to pH meter. The product was designed for a former classmate of Beckman’s who used it to determine the acidity of lemons. The pH meter later became an indispensable tool for analytic chemists. After the success of the pH meter, Beckman Instruments would go on to innovate ultraviolet and infrared spectrophotometers. Beckman’s company still exists today, now called Beckman Coulter, Inc., and manufactures biomedical instruments.

Arnold Beckman and his wife Mabel founded the Beckman Foundation in September 1977 to support science research. They founded five research centers at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Campaign, City of Hope, Caltech, Stanford University, and the University of California, Irvine.