{{Update|ownership|date=May 2020}}
{{Infobox company | name = Whatman PLC<br>(part of Cytiva) | type = Product brand | foundation = {{Start date and age|1740}} in Maidstone, Kent, United Kingdom<ref name=EarlyYears>{{cite web|url=http://www.whatman.com/TheEarlyYears.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080328090040/http://www.whatman.com:80/TheEarlyYears.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-date=2008-03-28|title=The Early Years|publisher=Whatman}}</ref> | founder = James Whatman | location = | location_city = Little Chalfont, Buckinghamshire | location_country = United Kingdom | homepage = {{URL|cytivalifesciences.com/whatman}} }}
'''Whatman PLC''' is a Cytiva brand specialising in laboratory filtration products and separation technologies.
Whatman products cover a range of laboratory applications that require filtration, sample collection (cards and kits), blotting, lateral flow components and flow-through assays and other general laboratory accessories.
Formerly Whatman PLC, the company was originally acquired in 2008 by GE Healthcare, which became Cytiva in April 2020.
==History==
===Founder's innovation and impact=== [[File:Paul Sandby - A View of Vinters at Boxley, Kent, with Mr. Whatman's Turkey Paper Mills - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''Mr. Whatman's Turkey Paper Mills'' by Paul Sandby (1794)]]
The papermaker James Whatman the Elder (1702–1759) founded the Whatman papermaking enterprise in 1740 in Maidstone, Kent, England. He made revolutionary advances to the craft in England and is credited<ref name=bywho/> as the inventor of wove paper (or Vélin), an innovation used for high-quality art and printing. His son, James Whatman the Younger (1741–1798), further developed the company's techniques.<ref name="Roberts">{{cite book |last1=Roberts |first1=Matt T. |last2=Etherington |first2=Don |title=Bookbinding and the conservation of books: A dictionary of descriptive terminology |url=https://archive.org/details/bookbindingconse0000robe |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |isbn=978-0-8444-0366-3 |chapter=Whatman, James (1741–1798) |date=2011-11-19 |access-date=2016-09-02 |url-access=registration}}</ref> At a time when the craft was based in smaller paper mills, Whatman innovations led to the large-scale and widespread industrialisation of paper manufacturing.
John Baskerville (1707–1775), who needed paper that would take a light impression of the printing plate, approached Whatman; the resultant paper was used for the edition of Virgil's poetry, embellished with Baskerville's typography and designs.<ref name="Roberts"/> The earliest examples of wove paper, bearing his watermark, appeared after 1740.<ref name="NGA">{{cite web |url=http://nga.gov.au/Conservation/Watermarks/listing.cfm |title=Watermark and countermark library |year=2010 |work=Conservation |publisher=National Gallery of Australia |access-date=2010-11-29 |archive-date=2010-11-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101129061440/http://nga.gov.au/Conservation/Watermarks/listing.cfm |url-status=dead }}</ref>
The Whatman business is credited with the invention of the wove wire mesh used to mould and align pulp fibres.<ref name=bywho>{{Cite ODNB |title=Whatman, James (1702–1759), paper maker |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-40776 |access-date=2020-08-30 |year=2004 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/40776 |last1=Baker |first1=Anne Pimlott}}</ref> This is the principal method used in the mass production of most modern paper. The Whatmans held a part interest in the establishment at Turkey Mill, near Maidstone, after 1740;<ref name=EarlyYears/> this was wholly acquired through the elder Whatman's marriage to Ann Harris.<ref name=bywho/>
"Handmade" paper bearing the Whatman's mark continued in production for special editions and art books<ref name="Roberts" /> until 2002.<ref name=Chalmers>{{cite journal |first=Mark |last=Chalmers |title=Whatman – Springfield Paper Mill, Maidstone |journal=Archive |issue=91 |date=September 2016 |pages=52–65 |publisher=Lightmoor Press |location=Witney}}</ref>
===Acquisition=== On 4 February 2008 GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric, acquired Whatman PLC at 270p per share in cash for each Whatman share, valuing Whatman at approximately £363 million (approximately $713 million.) Last production at Maidstone (Springfield Mill) occurred on 17 June 2014.<ref name=Chalmers/>
==Key products and technologies== [[File:Whatman 3-Piece Filter Funnel 4-7 cm .jpg|thumb|Whatman 3-piece filter funnel]] The Whatman product range covers * Laboratory filtration products: filter papers, membrane filters, syringe filters, syringeless filters, microbiology, microplates, and capsule filters * Sample collection cards and kits: FTA, FTA Elute, and 903 ranges * Blotting: blotting membranes, blotting papers, and equipment * Components for lateral flow and flow-through assays: membranes for immunoassays, conjugate release, blood separators, absorbents, and sample pads * General laboratory accessories: extraction thimbles, weighing papers, test and chromatography papers, lens-cleaning tissue, and Benchkote papers
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{General Electric}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whatman PLC}} Category:Paper products Category:Filters Category:1740 establishments in England