How We Got Started


Evolution of Wyatt Technology Corp. An Interview with Philip Wyatt


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ver the last 56 years, Wyatt Tech- nology Corp. (WTC), including the adaptation of innovations from its progenitor, Science Spectrum, has earned a reputation for developing and marketing in- struments for the physical characterization of particles, including size, mass, charge (zeta potential), conformation, and particle interac- tions such as proteins and nucleic acids. Along the way, Wyatt has made strategic acquisitions, notably for differential refractometers and dynamic light scattering. These acquisitions facilitated Wyatt’s ability to offer complete solutions, rather than just a few esoteric instru- ments. Its instruments are found in the labs of several Nobel Laureates, many of the foremost research foundations and corporations of the world, and in the production and research fa- cilities of the leading pharmaceutical firms. Unique to Wyatt are its customer-training courses at the Light Scattering University (the other LSU), which provide new customers with the training essential for the maximum utili- zation of their products. The Master of Light Scattering diploma, originally proposed and designed by the great physical chemist, Bruno Zimm (in Latin!), is awarded to each such suc- cessful student.


I had a chance to ask Dr. Philip Wyatt, the founder (Figure 1), about how Wyatt got its start.


Q: As with humans, company births are often messy struggles, followed by years of “child problems.” How was it for Wyatt?


A: It was very difficult, coming on the heels of Science Spectrum (Figure 2), an early venture capital financed firm that failed after just 13 years of existence. Despite tremendous instru- mentation (it introduced the first analytical instrument containing a laser light source), we had our difficult times. The markets never mate- rialized for the unique instruments developed.


by Robert L. Stevenson


Figure 2 – First Science Spectrum exhibit booth. Figure 1 – Philip Wyatt.


In addition, the 1970s brought a slowing down of the huge government-financed era of techni- cal innovation and funding.


Q: What led to the founding of Science Spectrum?


A: It began about a year after I had started working at EG&G, where I had won an unusual contract from the army to develop a laser-based system to detect the presence of a biological threat. The primary focus at the time of EG&G was in the area of nuclear weapons testing, so biophysics activities were not a high priority. The army encouraged the startup of Science Spectrum with a then remarkable $25,000 contract.


Q: How did you transition Science Spectrum to Wyatt?


A: After those dozen years of struggling (in- cluding a failed attempt to take the company public), Science Spectrum just ran out of funds and could win no further government contracts


AMERICAN LABORATORY • 24 • MAY 2014


(once a major source of its support). Many of my family and friends had donated additional funds to try and keep it operating, but it was too late. Then, at age 50, I found that despite what I thought were good credentials, I became unemployable.


Following the Science Spectrum bankruptcy, there remained a few small government con- tracts for which final reports had to be finished in order to recover a few thousand dollars that were critical for me, so I opened a small office at which I could complete these tasks under the name of Wyatt Technology Company.


Q: Funding is usually a major issue for a startup. How did you do it? And what would you do differently, looking back?


A: As might be expected, the only way I could get funding for the new quasi company was to increase the mortgage on my home. Family and friends had been burnt badly with the Sci- ence Spectrum ordeal and wanted to stay away from the new firm. Then, within a short period of about six months, two miracles occurred: The S.C. Johnson and Son Company in Racine, WI, asked if we could build for them a multi- angle light scattering (MALS) detector that they had read about following Science Spectrum’s last contract. That contract with the FDA had


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