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 History of PerkinElmer Optoelectronics

1931 Company started by MIT professors - legendary scientist, Dr. Harold Edgerton, Dr. Kenneth F. Germeshausen and later joined by Dr. Herbert E. Grier, in a garage on Boston’s Brookline Avenue.
1938 Perfected multi-flash photography of athletes
1940 Sports photography revolutionized by Edgerton’s flash lamp and stroboscope technologies
1946 Edgerton received the Medal of Freedom from the War Department in recognition for his efforts to develop strobe lamp technology powerful enough for aerial nighttime photography
1947 EG&G incorporated to further Electro-Optic research and development. Over the next thirty-five years, EG&G applied for more than 50 patents
1976 Acquired Reticon®, a leader in solid state imaging as well as some of the most sophisticated large-scale integrated circuitry like low-noise CCDs and self-scanning photo-diode arrays.
1983 Purchased Vactec, an Optoelectronics technology and application leader.
1990 Added GE/RCA Electro-Optics Division with over 30 years of emitter and detector technology along with a state-of-the-art product development and manufacturing facility.
1992 Purchased Heimann Opto from Heimann Systems adding thermopiles, pyroelectrics, photocells, image tubes, photo flash and industrial flash lamp technologies.
1998 Acquired Lumen Technologies including ORC (Optical Radiation Corporation), ILC (International Lighting Company), and Hanovia Lighting adding short arc Xenon lighting, Mercury Xenon lighting, flash lamps, metal halide lamps, Hg capillary, quartz xenon, electroform reflectors and aerospace qualified lighting. Brands included Cermax®, Q-arc, Wolfram and Stepper.
1999 With acquisition of the analytical instruments business, Company changed name to PerkinElmer, changed ticker symbol to PKI, and changed Optoelectronics business unit name to PerkinElmer Optoelectronics.

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