Whatman is a Cytiva brand specialising in laboratory filtration products and separation technologies.
Whatman 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.
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 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. 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. The earliest examples of wove paper, bearing his Watermark, appeared after 1740.
The Whatman Buisiness is credited with the invention of the wove wire mesh used to mould and align pulp fibres.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; this was wholly acquired through the elder Whatman's marriage to Ann Harris.
"Handmade" paper bearing the Whatman's mark continued in production for special editions and art books until 2002.
