SmithKline Beckman

SmithKline Beckman
ISIN	🆔
Industry	Pharmaceutical
Fate	Merged with The Beecham Group plc to form SmithKline Beecham
Predecessor	Smith, Kline & French (1929–1982); Beckman Instruments, Inc. (1950s–1982)
Successor	SmithKline Beecham; GlaxoSmithKline
Founded 📆	1982
Founder 👔
Defunct	1989; 37 years ago
Area served 🗺️
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Number of employees
🌐 Website	[Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 665: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). ]
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SmithKline Beckman (formerly Smith, Kline & French) was an American pharmaceutical company. It was created in 1982 by the merger of Smith, Kline & French and Beckman Instruments, Inc.

History

Pre-merger

Smith, Kline & French

Smith, Kline & French (SKF) was an American pharmaceutical company founded in 1830 by John K. Smith. In 1891, Smith, Kline and Company acquired French, Richards and Company, founded in 1844 by Clayton French and William Richards, which provided the company with a greater portfolio of consumer brands. In 1929 Smith, Kline and French Company was renamed to Smith Kline and French Laboratories.

In 1830, John K. Smith opened a drugstore in Philadelphia, and his younger brother, George, joined him in 1841 to form John K Smith & Co. In 1865, Mahlon Kline joined Smith and Shoemaker, as John K Smith and Co had become in the meantime, as a bookkeeper. In 1875, he took on additional responsibilities as a salesman and added many new and large accounts, as a reward the company, Mahlon K Smith and Company, was renamed to Smith, Kline and Company.

In 1891, Smith, Kline and Company acquired French, Richards and Company, founded in 1844 by Clayton French and William Richards, which provided the company with a greater portfolio of consumer brands. In 1929 Smith, Kline and French Company was renamed to Smith Kline and French Laboratories and the company put more focus on research in order to sustain its business.

In 1932, SKF chemist Gordon Alles was awarded a patent for amphetamine.^[1]

In 1968, the company acquired Recherche et Industrie Thérapeutiques in Belgium and changed its name to SmithKline-RIT.

In 1982, It was acquired by Allergan, an eye and skincare business.

Beckman Instruments, Inc.

In the 1950s, the company name changed to Beckman Instruments, Inc.

In 1954, Beckman Instruments acquired ultracentrifuge maker Spinco (Specialized Instruments Corp.). The Spinco division went on to design and manufacture a broad range of laboratory centrifuges.^[2]

In 1955, Beckman established the seminal Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory as a division of Beckman Instruments to begin commercializing the semiconductor transistor technology invented by Caltech alumnus William Shockley. Because Shockley's aging mother lived in Palo Alto, California, the Shockley Laboratory was established in nearby Mountain View, California, and thus, "Silicon Valley" was born.

In 1961, Beckman acquired Offner Electronics, a company founded by inventor Franklin F. Offner.