Imagining Possibilities Without Boundaries Two decades have passed since the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology opened a new era of research on the University of Illinois campus. To commemorate the science and people that have helped make this one of the leading interdisciplinary research centers in the country, the Beckman Institute will hold several events throughout the year. We have also created this special Web site to chronicle the history, present, and future of the Institute, as well as tell the stories of those who have helped make this a unique research facility. more >>>
Nobel Laureate Susumu Tonegawa of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been chosen as the keynote speaker for the Beckman Institute’s 20th Anniversary Symposium, set for Oct. 5-7.
Arnold and Mabel Beckman were very involved in the creation of the Beckman Institute, not only because of their financial contribution, but also because of their personal ties to the University of Illinois, the state, and the people here. People who were around for the founding of the Institute and who are still a part of it today remember the Beckmans fondly.
Ted Brown was chosen as the first Director of the Beckman Institute before the building was completed and officially opened in 1989. As Vice-Chancellor for Research at Illinois in the 1980s, he had taken part in discussions about creating an interdisciplinary research center on campus and it was his memo in the spring of 1983 to key faculty members called “Development of Program Statement for a Major Center” that helped to get the proposal rolling.
The Beckman Institute opened in 1989 with some group secretaries, a few staff members in the business office and in operations, and a handful of other full and part-time workers toiling in the laboratories and elsewhere. Twenty years later more than 100 full-time staff members provide critical support services to more than 600 researchers doing leading-edge science at Beckman.
In just three years the designers and builders of the Beckman Institute turned Arnold and Mabel Beckman’s $40M donation into reality, creating a research facility that remains as beautiful and functional today as it was when the building opened in 1989.
For more than 20 years, the Beckman Institute has been a part of a Koss family tradition when it comes to academic milestones.
The Beckman Institute grew out of a fortunate timing of events: at the same time University of Illinois officials were exploring the idea of building a research center on campus, Arnold and Mabel Beckman were looking for ways to share their good fortune with others.