Robert Brownlee (chemist)
Encyclopedia
Robert Gregg Brownlee was an American
chemist.
. He founded Brownlee Labs in the 70s, in the San Francisco Bay
area, a manufacturer of columns and pumps for high performance liquid chromatography
systems.
Bob Brownlee took the initiative "along with Tom Jupille, Steve Bakalyar, Nelson Cooke, Jerry Higgins and Ron Majors" to form the Bay Area Chromatography Colloquium. Bob Stevenson is quoted as saying in his Nine Lives of the California Separation Science Society that Brownlee Labs was "certainly one of the globe's leaders in HPLC column technology."
In the 80s, when Robert Brownlee was diagnosed with AIDS-related complex
, he sold his company to Applied Biosystems
of Foster City, California
in 1984. (Applied later merged with Perkin-Elmer).
Sometime later, he began a new company, which was viewed by Applied as a competitor. A lawsuit was instituted and later settled (Brownlee v. Applied Biosystems, Inc., 1989-1 Trade Cas. (CCH) 68, (N.D. Cal. 1989) 8,14).
In 1990, he was interviewed for an article in The Scientist about Applied Biosystems. "If you produce the first product for these virgins [scientists without such equipment], you have a big value added, and you can charge a big price for your product," Brownlee says. "That's the reason Applied Biosystems did so well."
He also formed the Robert Brownlee Foundation, a private family foundation which supports, with grants, K-12 science. In addition, the contributions of his foundation, made possible a project introducing children to marine sciences, aboard the 90-foot research vessel the Robert G. Brownlee, built in 1998 and run by the Marine Science Institute of Redwood City, California
.
He died on February 27, 1991 of AIDS
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
chemist.
Biography
Robert Brownlee was born October 21, 1942 in South DakotaSouth Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
. He founded Brownlee Labs in the 70s, in the San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
area, a manufacturer of columns and pumps for high performance liquid chromatography
High-performance liquid chromatography
High-performance liquid chromatography , HPLC, is a chromatographic technique that can separate a mixture of compounds and is used in biochemistry and analytical chemistry to identify, quantify and purify the individual components of the mixture.HPLC typically utilizes different types of stationary...
systems.
Bob Brownlee took the initiative "along with Tom Jupille, Steve Bakalyar, Nelson Cooke, Jerry Higgins and Ron Majors" to form the Bay Area Chromatography Colloquium. Bob Stevenson is quoted as saying in his Nine Lives of the California Separation Science Society that Brownlee Labs was "certainly one of the globe's leaders in HPLC column technology."
In the 80s, when Robert Brownlee was diagnosed with AIDS-related complex
AIDS-related complex
AIDS-related complex, or ARC, was introduced after discovery of the HIV when the medical community became aware of the inherent difficulties associated with treating patients suffering from an advanced case of HIV which gave rise to the term Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome...
, he sold his company to Applied Biosystems
Applied Biosystems
Applied Biosystems, Inc. started as GeneCo , was the name of a pioneer biotechnology company founded in 1981 in Foster City, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area...
of Foster City, California
Foster City, California
Foster City is an affluent planned city located in San Mateo County, California, 94404. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 30,567. Forbes ranked Foster City #10 on their 2009 list of America's Top 25 Towns to Live Well. Money has also recognized Foster City multiple times as...
in 1984. (Applied later merged with Perkin-Elmer).
Sometime later, he began a new company, which was viewed by Applied as a competitor. A lawsuit was instituted and later settled (Brownlee v. Applied Biosystems, Inc., 1989-1 Trade Cas. (CCH) 68, (N.D. Cal. 1989) 8,14).
In 1990, he was interviewed for an article in The Scientist about Applied Biosystems. "If you produce the first product for these virgins [scientists without such equipment], you have a big value added, and you can charge a big price for your product," Brownlee says. "That's the reason Applied Biosystems did so well."
He also formed the Robert Brownlee Foundation, a private family foundation which supports, with grants, K-12 science. In addition, the contributions of his foundation, made possible a project introducing children to marine sciences, aboard the 90-foot research vessel the Robert G. Brownlee, built in 1998 and run by the Marine Science Institute of Redwood City, California
Redwood City, California
Redwood City is a California charter city located on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California, approximately 27 miles south of San Francisco, and 24 miles north of San Jose. Redwood City's history spans from its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people, to its tradition as a port for...
.
He died on February 27, 1991 of AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
.
Works
- Simulated distillation of high-boiling petroleum fractions by capillary supercritical fluid chromatography and vacuum thermal gravimetric analysis, with Herbert E. Schwartz, Mieczyslaw M. Boduszynski, and Fu Su in Analytical Chemistry (journal), May 15, 1987
Resources
- Casss Times, Spring 2005
- Casss Times, Autumn 2005
- California Death Index
- Robert G Brownlee Marine project
- Article in The Scientist, June 1990
- Applied Biosystems Timeline