EG&G
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
EG&G is a 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.
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.
EG&G's current major customers include NASA, the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Transportation, the Defense Logistics Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Coast Guard.
During the 1970s and 80s the company, then led by Barney O'Keefe, diversified by acquisition into the fields of papermaking, scientific, marine, environmental and geophysical instrumentation, automotive testing, fans and blowers, frequency control devices and other components. In the late 80's and early 90's most of these divisions were sold and the non-government side of the company purchased Perkin-Elmer in 1999, assuming the Perkin-Elmer name.
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 1980's EG&G employed close to 35,000.
