PASADENA, Calif.—Arnold Orville Beckman, founder and president of Beckman Instruments, Inc., chairman emeritus of the California Institute of Technology board of trustees, and for many years a nationally recognized inventor, scientist, philanthropist, and business leader, died this morning in his sleep at Scripps Hospital in La Jolla after a long illness. He was 104.
Harry Gray, a longtime friend and associate of Beckman's who is the Beckman Professor of Chemistry and founding director of the Beckman Institute at Caltech, said, "Arnold Beckman started an instrumentation revolution that completely changed the course of chemistry and biology not only at Caltech, but all over the world."
Peter Dervan, who is the Bren Professor of Chemistry, said that the country has "lost one of the truly great visionaries of the 20th century. Arnold Beckman had a huge impact regarding the quality of our lives.
"His instruments combined electronics with chemistry, which accelerated research discoveries in biochemistry and human medicine," Dervan added. "These discoveries fueled the biotechnology revolution in the twentieth century."
Born in Cullom, Illinois, on April 10, 1900, Beckman earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering in 1922 and a master's degree in physical chemistry in 1923, both at the University of Illinois. He then entered Caltech as a graduate student in what would become a lifetime association, first as a chemistry student, then as a professor, and later as a major benefactor.
Beckman earned his Caltech doctorate in photochemistry in 1928, and six years later invented the pH meter that became the foundation of his career as an inventor. He started Beckman Instruments in 1935, and in 1940 resigned his faculty appointment to devote his full efforts to his rapidly expanding company. That same year he introduced a number of other inventions to the Beckman line, including the Beckman DU spectrophotometer and a helical potentiometer—known as the Helipot—which was an essential component in World War II-era radar. For his invention of the pH meter he was named to the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1987.
Beckman was a longtime supporter of Caltech and several other educational institutions. In addition to providing funding for Caltech's Beckman Institute and the Beckman Auditorium, he also gave $40 million to fund an interdisciplinary research institute at the University of Illinois, $20 million to create a conference center for the National Academy of Sciences, $14.5 million in 1998 to improve K-6 science education in Orange County, and many other gifts in support of basic research and public education. By his 100th birthday in 2000, he had provided more than $270 million for the direct support of research.
Air pollution was a longstanding concern of Beckman's. He provided early support of the scientific investigations that revealed the sources and mechanisms of photochemical smog, and later helped develop pollution control regulations and smog warning procedures for Los Angeles County.
He was a recipient of both the National Medal of Science and the National Medal of Technology, and in 1997 received the prestigious Treasures of Los Angeles Award from Mayor Richard Riordan.
He is survived by his daughter, G. Patricia Beckman of Corona del Mar, and a son, Arnold S. Beckman of Asotin, Washington. Beckman's wife, Mabel, died in 1989.
