EG&G
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EG&G is a U.S. national defense contractor and provider of management and technical services. The company was involved in contracting services to the United States government during World War II, and conducted weapons research and development after the war. Its close involvement with some of the U.S. Government's most sensitive technologies has led to it being cited in conspiracy theories related to Defense Department black projects, most of which related to its core competencies in nuclear technologies.
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[edit] History
In 1931 MIT professor Harold Edgerton (a pioneer of high speed photography) partnered with his graduate student Kenneth Germeshausen as a small technical consulting firm. The two were joined by fellow MIT graduate student Herbert Grier in 1934. The group's high-speed photography was used to image implosion tests during the Manhattan Project. The same skills in precisely timed high power pulses of electricity also formed a key enabling technology for nuclear weapon triggers. After the war the group continued their association with the burgeoning military nuclear effort, and formally incorporated Edgerton, Germeshausen, and Grier, Inc. in 1947.
During the 1950s and 60s EG&G was heavily involved in nuclear tests as a major contractor for the Atomic Energy Commission. Subsequently it expanded its range of services, providing facilities management, technical services, security, and pilot training for the U.S. military and other government departments. EG&G builds a variety of sensing, detection and imaging products including night vision equipment, sensors used to detect nuclear material and chemical and biological weapons agents, and a variety of acoustic sensors. The company also supplies microwave and electronic components to the government, security systems, and systems for electronic warfare and mine countermeasures.
During the 1970s and 80s the company, then led by Barney O'Keefe, diversified by acquisition into the fields of paper making, scientific, marine, environmental and geophysical instrumentation, automotive testing, fans and blowers, frequency control devices and other components. In the late '80s and early '90s most of these divisions were sold, and on May 28, 1999, the non-government side of EG&G Inc. (formerly NYSE: EGG) purchased the Analytical Instruments Division of Perkin-Elmer for US$425 million, also assuming the Perkin-Elmer name.[1][2] (NYSE: PKI) At the time EG&G was based in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and made products for diverse industries including automotive, medical, aerospace and photography.[2]
In August 2002 the defense and services sector of the company was acquired by defense technical services giant URS Corporation. URS' EG&G division is headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland and employs over 11,000 people. During its heyday in the 1980s EG&G employed close to 35,000.
EG&G is also notable as the operator of Janet Airlines, a small fleet of Boeing 737/T-43A passenger jets. The aircraft serve the Nevada Test Site (most notably Area 51) from their terminal at Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport.
From 1999 to at least 2001, it was wholly-owned by The Carlyle Group, see http://www.carlyle.com/Portfolio/item7169.html, http://www.urscorp.com/Press_Releases/pressRelsTradeDet.php?listYear=2001&recordID=258
[edit] EG&G's clients
- NASA
- Department of Energy
- Department of Defense
- Department of the Treasury
- Department of Transportation
- Defense Logistics Agency
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- Department of Homeland Security
- U.S. Coast Guard.
[edit] Lear Siegler Services, Inc.
EG&G Technical Services, Inc. and Lear Siegler Services, Inc. consolidated becoming one of the nation's leading U.S. federal government contractors providing operations and maintenance, systems engineering and technical assistance, and program management, primarily to the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security.
[edit] References
- ^ What is the logic of biology? a letter from tony white to our shareholders, PE Corporation, 1999 Annual Report, CEO letter
- ^ a b COMPANY NEWS; PERKIN-ELMER CUTS 12% OF WORK FORCE, New York Times, Published: July 15, 1999
