81 Facts About Arnold Beckman

Arnold Orville Beckman was an American chemist, inventor, investor, and philanthropist.

Arnold Beckman developed the DU spectrophotometer, "probably the most important instrument ever developed towards the advancement of bioscience".

Arnold Beckman funded the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory, the first silicon transistor company in California, thus giving rise to Silicon Valley.

Arnold Beckman was born in Cullom, Illinois, a village of about 500 people in a farming community.

Arnold Beckman was the youngest son of George Beckman, a blacksmith, and his second wife Elizabeth Ellen Jewkes.

Arnold Beckman was curious about the world from an early age.

When he was nine, Arnold Beckman found an 1868 chemistry textbook, Joel Dorman Steele's Fourteen Weeks in Chemistry, and began trying out the experiments.

Arnold Beckman's father encouraged his scientific interests by letting him convert a toolshed into a laboratory.

Arnold Beckman's father sold his blacksmith shop, and became a travelling salesman for blacksmithing tools and materials.

Arnold Beckman earned money as a "practice pianist" with a local band, and as an "official cream tester" running a centrifuge for a local store.

In 1915 they moved to Bloomington itself, but continued to attend University High, where Arnold Beckman obtained permission to take university level classes from professor of chemistry Howard W Adams.

Arnold Beckman performed at night as a movie-house pianist, and played with local dance bands.

Arnold Beckman graduated valedictorian of his class, with an average of 89.41 over four years, the highest attained.

Arnold Beckman was allowed to leave school a few months early to contribute to the First World War effort in early 1918 by working as a chemist.

Arnold Beckman earned his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering in 1922 and his master's degree in physical chemistry in 1923.

Arnold Beckman was initiated into Zeta chapter of Alpha Chi Sigma, the chemistry fraternity, in 1921 and the Gamma Alpha Graduate Scientific Fraternity in December 1922.

Arnold Beckman decided to go to California Institute of Technology for his doctorate.

Arnold Beckman stayed there for a year, before returning to New York to be near his fiancee, Mabel, who was working as a secretary for the Equitable Life Assurance Society.

Arnold Beckman found a job with Western Electric's engineering department, the precursor to the Bell Telephone Laboratories.

The couple married June 10,1925and moved back to California in 1926, where Arnold Beckman resumed his studies at Caltech.

Arnold Beckman became interested in ultraviolet photolysis and worked with his doctoral advisor, Roscoe G Dickinson, on an instrument to find the energy of ultraviolet light.

Arnold Beckman shared his expertise in glass-blowing by teaching classes in the machine shop.

Arnold Beckman taught classes in the design and use of research instruments.

Arnold Beckman dealt first-hand with the chemists' need for good instrumentation as manager of the chemistry department's instrument shop.

Arnold Beckman acted as a scientific expert in legal trials.

Arnold Beckman's solution was to make ink with butyric acid, a malodorous substance.

Arnold Beckman started the National Inking Appliance Company, obtaining space in a garage owned by instrument maker Fred Henson and hiring two Caltech students, Robert Barton and Henry Fracker.

Arnold Beckman developed and took out a couple of patents for re-inking typewriter ribbons, but marketing them was not successful.

Joseph approached Arnold Beckman, who proposed that instead of trying to increase the sensitivity of his measurements, he amplify his results.

Arnold Beckman saw an opportunity, and rethinking the project, decided to create a complete chemical instrument which could be easily transported and used by nonspecialists.

The earliest meter had a design glitch, in that the pH readings changed with the depth of immersion of the electrodes, but Arnold Beckman fixed the problem by sealing the glass bulb of the electrode.

Arnold Beckman rented larger quarters at 3330 Colorado Street, and began manufacturing pH meters.

The pH meter is an important device for measuring the pH of a solution, and by 11 May 1939, sales were successful enough that Arnold Beckman left Caltech to become the full-time president of National Technical Laboratories.

Just as Arnold Beckman had created a single easy-to-use instrument for measuring pH, he made it a goal to create an easy-to-use instrument for spectrophotometry.

Arnold Beckman was approached by the Office of Rubber Reserve about developing an infrared spectrophotometer to aid in the study of chemicals such as toluene and butadiene.

Arnold Beckman was asked to secretly produce a hundred infrared spectrophotometers to be used by authorized government scientists, based on a design for a single-beam spectrophotometer which had already been developed by Robert Brattain for Shell.

Arnold Beckman had continued to develop the infrared spectrophotometer after the release of the IR-1.

Arnold Beckman had trademarked the design of the pH meter knobs, under the name "helipot" for "helical potentiometer".

Arnold Beckman was not allowed to tell his staff the reason behind the redesign, and they were not particularly interested in the problem; he eventually came up with a solution himself.

Arnold Beckman spun off a separate company, the Helipot Corporation, to take on the electronics component manufactory.

Originally approached to supply housing boxes for the meter by Holmes Sturdivant, Pauling's assistant, Arnold Beckman was asked to produce the entire instrument.

Arnold Beckman created a tiny glass-blowing machine which would generate a precisely measured puff of air to create the glass balls.

The Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce asked Arnold Beckman to represent them in dealing with creation of a local APCD.

The new APCD, when formed, asked Arnold Beckman to become the scientific consultant to the Air Pollution Control Officer.

Arnold Beckman was not convinced that sulfur dioxide was the real culprit behind Los Angeles smog.

Arnold Beckman visited Gary, Indiana, where steps were being taken to address sulfur dioxide pollution, and was struck by the characteristic smell of sulfur in the air.

Returning, Arnold Beckman convinced McCabe that they needed to search for a different cause.

Arnold Beckman agreed to spend a year studying the chemistry of smog.

Arnold Beckman's results, presented in 1952, identified ozone and hydrocarbons from smokestacks, refineries and car exhausts as key ingredients in the formation of smog.

Arnold Beckman himself was approached by California governor Goodwin Knight to head a Special Committee on Air Pollution, to propose ways to combat smog.

The "Arnold Beckman Bible" advised key steps to be taken immediately:.

Arnold Beckman Instruments acquired the Liston-Becker Instrument Company in June 1955.

Arnold Beckman helped to create the Air Pollution Foundation, a non-profit organization to support research on finding solutions to smog, and educating the public about scientific issues related to smog.

Arnold Beckman advocated for stronger powers for the APCD, and encouraged industry, business, and citizens to support for their work.

Arnold Beckman helped the Chamber of Commerce to develop a unified approach to monitoring smog, broadcasting smog alerts, and addressing the smog problem.

Arnold Beckman identified the two key issues of his term as battling smog, and supporting the collaboration of local science, technology, industry, and education.

In 1967, Arnold Beckman was appointed to the Federal Air Quality Board for a four-year term, by President Richard Nixon.

When Murdock died in 1948, Arnold Beckman was able to gain a controlling interest in the company.

In 1952, Arnold Beckman Instruments became a publicly traded company on the New York Curb Exchange, generating new capital for expansion, including overseas expansion.

Helipot Corporation, the spinoff company that Arnold Beckman had created when NTL's board were dubious about electronics, was reincorporated into Arnold Beckman Instruments and became the Helipot Division in 1958.

Shockley wanted to create a new company, and asked Arnold Beckman to serve on the board.

Arnold Beckman was reassured by his engineers that the scientific ideas behind Shockley's project were still sound.

In 1960, Arnold Beckman sold the Shockley subsidiary to the Clevite Transistor Company, ending his formal association with semiconductors.

Nonetheless, Arnold Beckman had been an essential backer of the new industry in its initial stages.

Arnold Beckman saw that computers and automation offered a myriad of opportunities for integration into instruments, and the development of new instruments.

Arnold Beckman Instruments purchased Berkeley Scientific Company in the 1950s, and later developed a Systems Division within Arnold Beckman Instruments "to develop and build industrial data systems for automation".

Berkeley developed the EASE analog computer, and by 1959 Arnold Beckman had contracts with major companies in the aerospace, space, and defense industries, including Boeing Aerospace, Lockheed Aircraft, North American Aviation, and Lear Siegler.

In supporting Caltech, they expanded on the long-term relationship that Arnold Beckman had begun as a student at Caltech, and continued as a teacher and trustee.

In 1962, they funded the construction of a concert hall, the Arnold Beckman Auditorium, designed by architect Edward Durrell Stone.

Arnold Beckman envisioned the Beckman Scholars and Beckman Young Investigators programs to support young scientists at the university level.

Each year, the Arnold Beckman Foundation selects a list of universities and colleges, each of which selects student from its institution for the Arnold Beckman Scholars Program.

Arnold Beckman was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1976.

Arnold Beckman was inducted into the Junior Achievement US Business Hall of Fame in 1985.

Arnold Beckman was awarded the National Medal of Technology in 1988.

Arnold Beckman had previously been recognized by the Reagan administration as one of about 30 citizens receiving the 1989 Presidential Citizens Medal for exemplary deeds of service.

In 1989, Arnold Beckman received the Charles Lathrop Parsons Award for public service from the American Chemical Society.

Arnold Beckman was awarded the Order of Lincoln, the state of Illinois' highest honor, by The Lincoln Academy of Illinois in 1991.

In 1996, Arnold Beckman was inducted into the Alpha Chi Sigma Hall of Fame.

Arnold Beckman was awarded the Public Welfare Medal from the National Academy of Sciences in 1999.

Arnold Beckman died May 18,2004, at the age of 104, in hospital in La Jolla, Calif.

Mabel and Arnold Beckman are buried beneath a simple headstone in West Lawn Cemetery in Cullom, Illinois, the small town where he was born.