Arnold Orville Beckman
Chemist, Inventor
1900 – 2004
Who was Arnold Orville Beckman?
Arnold Orville Beckman was an American chemist, inventor, investor, and philanthropist. While a professor at Caltech, he founded Beckman Instruments based on his 1934 invention of the pH meter, a device for measuring acidity, later considered to have "revolutionized the study of chemistry and biology". He also developed the DU spectrophotometer, "probably the most important instrument ever developed towards the advancement of bioscience". Beckman funded the first transistor company, thus giving rise to Silicon Valley. After retirement, he and his wife Mabel were numbered among the top philanthropists in the United States.
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- Born
- Apr 10, 1900
Cullom - Nationality
- United States of America
- Profession
- Education
- California Institute of Technology
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Employment
- California Institute of Technology
- Died
- May 18, 2004
La Jolla
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
Citation
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"Arnold Orville Beckman." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 5 Feb. 2025. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/arnold_orville_beckman>.
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