One of the giant corporate players in the field of medical technology grew from a fundamental discovery Walter Coulter made in his basement in 1948. The Coulter Principle uses pulses of electricity to count and measure blood cells and other microscopic particles. This was the basis of Coulter's first big invention, an automated system to analyze blood. From this beginning, Coulter methodically developed more ambitious blood tests that could be performed on his expanding suite of automatic test machines. He co-founded the Coulter Corporation with his brother Joseph, and formed the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation to support scientific research and humanitarian efforts worldwide. Currently, Beckman Coulter oversees an ambitious research and development effort devoted to a wide range of medical fields, including cancer research.

Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Coulter studied electronics at Westminster College and the Georgia Institute of Technology until the Great Depression interrupted his studies.

Frederick Banting
Charles Best
Vannevar Bush
James Collip
Harry Wesley Coover
Wallace Coulter
Ray Dolby
Edith Flanigen
Robert Gallo
Ivan Getting
John Gibbon
Lloyd Augustus Hall
Elias Howe
Charles D. Kelman
Luc Montagnier
Bernard Oliver
Bradford Parkinson
Norbert Rillieux
John Roebling
Claude Shannon