Arnold Orville Beckman, renowned scientist, inventor, and philanthropist, died at age 104 on 18 May 2004 in La Jolla, California.Beckman was born on 10 April 1900 in the small town of Cullom, Illinois. His father, a blacksmith, encouraged his son’s early interest in science. On Beckman’s 10th birthday, his father gave him a small shed as a makeshift laboratory. Twelve years later, Beckman received a BS in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He stayed at Illinois to earn an MS in chemistry in 1923 and then began graduate work at Caltech.He left during his first year to be with his fiancée in New York. The move, driven by romance, proved propitious for his subsequent career, because he went to work for Walter A. Shewhart at the Western Electric Engineering Laboratory, the forerunner of Bell Labs. Shewhart was a pioneer in the developing area of standardization, testing, and quality control. Beckman put the lessons learned under Shewhart’s mentoring to good use later in life. At Western Electric/Bell Labs, Beckman also learned about electronic technology.He returned to Caltech, and in 1928 received a PhD for work on the photochemistry of hydrazine and hydrazoic acid with Roscoe Dickinson. He joined the Caltech faculty and quickly became known for his skill at conducting experiments and for his inventiveness. In response to a request from a friend from his Illinois days, Beckman built the first pH meter, an electronically driven device for measuring the concentration of hydrogen ion in water. His pH meter was the forerunner of analytical instruments that integrate a sensor and some form of electronic signal processing. It proved to be very popular. In 1939, when the nation was still in the throes of the Depression, Beckman left his faculty position at Caltech to become a full-time inventor and entrepreneur.Beckman Instruments soon became a leading manufacturer of scientific instrumentation. The Beckman model DU, which appeared in 1941, was the first UV–visible spectrophotometer to merge optics and electronics into a single instrument, and more than 30 000 units of this famous lab workhorse were sold. The DU and other company instruments were vital to the defense of the US during World War II: The DU was an essential tool in many research projects; the Beckman IR spectrophotometers greatly advanced the synthetic rubber research program; and a militarized version of the “Helipot,” the multi-turn potentiometer that Beckman had patented, became a ubiquitous feature of radar consoles and other electronic gear.Even as Beckman Instruments became a leading manufacturer of scientific equipment in the postwar era, Beckman gave generously of his time to civic causes. Notably, as president of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, he played a leading role during the 1950s in assembling the scientific team that released a definitive study of the origins of the photochemical smog plaguing the Los Angeles basin.In 1980, after he relinquished his active role at Beckman Instruments, Beckman and his wife, Mabel, turned to philanthropy. They established the Beckman Foundation, and within a few years, they made major monetary gifts for the construction of research centers and institutes at the University of California, Irvine; the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Caltech; Stanford University; and City of Hope, a cancer research and treatment center near Los Angeles. They also funded the construction of the Beckman Center of the National Academies in Irvine and gave millions of dollars to many institutions in support of the sciences. The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation continues their legacy through its promotion of basic research and science education in the chemical and life sciences. Especially significant are programs that provide support to assistant professors (Beckman young investigators); undergraduate research students (Beckman scholars); and K–6 hands-on science instruction ([email protected]).The many recognitions Beckman received include the National Medal of Technology (1988), the National Medal of Science (1989), and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the National Inventors Hall of Fame (2004).Beckman was warm, loyal, and caring, and he lived by a set of values that owed much to his Midwestern small-town origins. He is remembered as the scientist who started the instrumentation revolution that changed the course of chemistry and biology in the 20th century, as the thoughtful philanthropist who generously supported fundamental scientific research at many institutions, and as the remarkable human being who helped launch the careers of young investigators who shared his love of science. Arnold Orville Beckman BECKMAN COULTER INCPPT|High resolution© 2005 American Institute of Physics.
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Apr 1, 2010
Hector Romero-Ramirez + 3
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