The man behind Battell Memorial Institute

Gordon Battelle was born in Covington, Kentucky, to Colonel John Gordon Battelle and Annie Maude Norton. He died at the age of 40 following an appendectomy at a Columbus, Ohio hospital. In his will, he left the bulk of his estate, about $1.6 million, to the establishment of Battelle Memorial Institute. His father, John Gordon Battelle, was a pioneer in the steel industry and former owner of Columbus Iron & Steel Co. He died in 1918.

Gordon Battelle

Battelle’s mother, Annie Maude Norton Battelle, was a suffragette. She married Battelle's father in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1881. They moved to the Ohio cities of Cincinnati and Piqua and finally settled in Columbus, Ohio, in 1905. Annie Maude Norton Battelle died in March 1929. As the only son of John and Annie Battelle, Gordon was trained to inherit and manage his father’s holdings in the steel industry.

 

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Battelle Memorial Institute

The Battelle Memorial Institute is a private not-for-profit applied science and technology development company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. The institute opened in 1929 but traces its origins to the 1923 will of Ohio industrialist Gordon Battelle which provided for its creation. Originally focusing on contract research and development work in the areas of metals and material science, it has since expanded its scope to defense, energy, environmental, transportation and health and life sciences. It is the world's largest independent consulting, research and development organization. Battelle has played a major role in the development of projects including the Xerox process, Snopake correction fluid, Universal Product Code and compact disc digital storage.

Before the founding of Battelle Memorial Institute, industrial research was a relatively new idea. Gordon Battelle was ahead of his time in his exploration of the application of science to industry. He regarded scientific research as not only a means of making industry more efficient, but also of solving social problems and uplifting the common man.

Battelle established the institute “for the purpose of education in connection with and the encouragement of creative and research work and the making of discoveries and inventions in connection with the metallurgy of coal, iron, steel, zinc and their allied industries.” Battelle Memorial Institute opened its doors on King Avenue in Columbus, Ohio, in October 1929.

Battelle Memorial Institute Today

Beginning with a few machine shops and foundries that critical to materials research for the U.S. iron and steel industries in the 1930s, Battelle now owns more than 2,000,000 square feet of laboratories in several locations performing cutting edge research in national security; environment, energy, and transportation; and health and life sciences.

Battelle supports and promotes science and math education, and conducts research and development through contract research, laboratory management, and technology commercialization. The Institute conducts research in areas such as global climate change, sustainable energy technologies, high performance materials, next generation healthcare diagnostics and therapeutics, and advanced security solutions for people, infrastructure, and the nation. The Institute has also helped develop commercial products ranging from products to fight diabetes, cancer, and heart disease to the office copier machine (Xerox).

Battelle Memorial Institute
505 King Avenue
Columbus, Ohio 43201
800-201-2011 or 614-424-6424