Our Heritage

Beckman's acquisition of Coulter Corporation in October 1997 created an organization with one of the most comprehensive product portfolios to span the biomedical continuum, from life sciences to clinical diagnostics and cellular analysis.

In the clinical diagnostics and cellular analysis markets, Beckman Coulter customers are hospital laboratories, commercial laboratories, physician offices and group practices. These customer groups are supported with clinical chemistry systems, blood cell analysis systems, immunochemistry systems, centrifuges, rapid test kits, reagents and quality control chemistries.

In the bioresearch market, Beckman Coulter life science customers include biotechnology firms, pharmaceutical companies, research institutions and universities. The efficiency and productivity of these researchers is greatly enhanced by Beckman Coulter centrifuges and rotors, capillary electrophoresis systems, protein purification systems, DNA synthesizers and sequencers, biorobotics workstations, flow cytometry systems, high-performance liquid chromatographs, scintillation systems, spectrophotometers, laboratory automation systems and software, and more.

From its first small steps as a tiny operation in the rear of a shed in Pasadena, California, to its recognition today as a world leader in life science research and clinical diagnostics, Beckman Coulter owes its success to three entrepreneurs who made it all possible: the late Arnold O. Beckman, Ph.D, and the late brothers, Wallace and Joseph Coulter. Together, these three men of vision revolutionized science and medicine, saving countless lives and improving the quality of daily life.

Each has a unique story to tell. And, in many ways, their stories are our own.

The Heritage Exhibit, located in the corporate headquarters in Fullerton, CA, displays the history of the company. It shows how far the lab instruments systems have come.