Shoes, Ships, and Sealing Wax

Arnold Beckman

I caught the obituary on the NAS homepage this morning, and thought "I've seen that name."

Indeed I have, on the Beckman Coulter instruments in the labs. This was the company that grew from Dr. Beckman's invention of the pH meter...and I'll be honest, it never crossed my mind that somebody had to invent that. It's one of those things that just is.

Beckman Coulter has a very good memorial to Dr. Beckman. Interesting gentleman. From his biography:

Born in the small farming community of Cullom, Ill., on April 10, 1900, young Arnold Beckman's interest in science was first piqued upon finding a chemistry book in the family attic. Not long after reading Steele's textbook series Fourteen Weeks in Science, originally published in 1861, he converted a tool shed built for him by his father for his 10th birthday into a makeshift chemistry lab.

I don't relate to that sort of thing; I was one of those kids who "hated science" in school. I didn't really hate science, of course, I just didn't recognize how many of my interests were science.

Now that I appreciate science, I thought it appropriate to take a moment to honor Dr. Beckman and his legacy.

Posted by Nic at May 20, 2004 12:24 PM