Oral history interview with Arnold O. Beckman
- 1985-Jul-23
Oral history interview with Arnold O. Beckman
- 1985-Jul-23
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.The second interview begins with Arnold Beckman describing the National Technical Laboratories in the late 1930s. He details NTL policies and operations. The majority of the transcript focuses on the change from NTL to Beckman Instruments and the development of spectrophotometry instrumentation during the 1940s. The other projects that are discussed include mass spectrometers, Geiger counters, pocket electroscopes, and especially the oxygen analyzer. A description of Beckman's reinvolvement with Caltech following World War II follows this section. Finally, the interview concludes with Beckman examining air pollution work in Los Angeles, the formation of Shockley Laboratories, and the future of the instrumentation industry.
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About the Interviewers
Jeffrey L. Sturchio is president and CEO of the Global Health Council. Previously he served as vice president of corporate responsibility at Merck & Co., president of the Merck Company Foundation, and chairman of the U.S. Corporate Council on Africa. Sturchio is currently a visiting scholar at the Institute for Applied Economics and the Study of Business Enterprise at Johns Hopkins University and a member of the Global Agenda Council on the Healthy Next Generation of the World Economic Forum. He received an AB in history from Princeton University and a PhD in the history and sociology of science from the University of Pennsylvania.
Arnold Thackray founded the Chemical Heritage Foundation and served the organization as president for 25 years. He is currently CHF’s chancellor. Thackray received MA and PhD degrees in history of science from Cambridge University. He has held appointments at Cambridge, Oxford University, and Harvard University, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1983 Thackray received the Dexter Award from the American Chemical Society for outstanding contributions to the history of chemistry. He served for more than a quarter century on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was the founding chairman of the Department of History and Sociology of Science and is currently the Joseph Priestley Professor Emeritus.
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| Oral history number | 0014B |
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Interviewee biographical information
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Education
| Year | Institution | Degree | Discipline |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1922 | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | BS | Chemical Engineering |
| 1923 | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | MS | Physical Chemistry |
| 1928 | California Institute of Technology | PhD | Photochemistry |
Professional Experience
Bell Telephone Laboratories
- 1924 to 1926 Research Engineer
California Institute of Technology
- 1926 to 1929 Instructor
- 1929 to 1940 Assistant Professor
National Inking Appliance Company
- 1934 Vice President
Beckman Instruments, Inc.
- 1937 to 1939 Vice President
- 1939 to 1940 President
- 1940 to 1965 President
- 1946 to 1958 President
- 1965 to 1985 Chairman of the Board
Helipot Corporation
- 1944 to 1958 President
Honors
| Year(s) | Award |
|---|---|
| 1960 | Illinois Achievement Award, University of Illinois |
| 1964 to 1974 | Chairman, Board of Trustees, California Institute of Technology |
| 1965 | Honorary ScD degree, Chapman College |
| 1969 | Honorary LL D degree, University of California at Riverside |
| 1969 | Honorary LL D degree, Loyola University in California |
| 1974 | Scientific Apparatus Makers Association Award |
| 1977 | Honorary LL D degree, Pepperdine University |
| 1977 | Honorary ScD degree, Whittier College |
| 1977 | Arnold O. Beckman Conference in Clinical Chemistry, established by American Association for Clinical Chemistry |
| 1980 | Arnold O. Beckman Professorship of Chemistry, established by California Institute of Technology |
| 1981 | Hoover Medal, American Association of Engineering Societies |
| 1981 | Life Achievement Award, Instrument Society of America |
| 1982 | Diploma of Honor, Association of Clinical Scientists |
| 1987 | Vermilye Medal, The Franklin Institute |
| 1987 | National Inventors Hall of Fame, Washington, DC |
| 1988 | National Medal of Technology |
| 1989 | Charles Lathrop Parsons Award, American Chemical Society |
| 1989 | National Medal of Science |
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Complete transcript of interview
The published version of the transcript may diverge from the interview audio due to edits to the transcript made by staff of the Center for Oral History, often at the request of the interviewee, during the transcript review process.