PerkinElmer, Inc., previously styled Perkin-Elmer, is an American global corporation that was founded in 1937 and originally focused on precision optics.

By the 21st century, PerkinElmer was focused in the business areas of diagnostics, life science research, food, environmental and industrial testing.

The other part, comprising life sciences and diagnostics businesses, remained public but required a new name, which in 2023 was announced as Revvity, Inc.[2] Richard Perkin was attending the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn to study chemical engineering, but left after a year to try his hand on Wall Street.

Charles Elmer ran a firm that supplied court reporters and was nearing retirement when he attended one of Perkin's lectures on astronomy being held at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences.

[3] The two struck up a friendship over their shared interest in astronomy, and eventually came up with the idea of starting a firm to produce precision optics.

[3] The opening of World War II led to significant expansion as the company produced optics for range finders, bombsights, and reconnaissance systems.

Perkin remained as president and CEO until June 1961, when Robert Lewis, previously of Argus Camera and Sylvania Electric Products, took over these roles.

Making this work required a complex 16-element lens system that focussed a narrow range of wavelengths of light onto the mask.

[4] Chip prices plummeted as a result, with examples like the MOS 6502 selling for about US$20 while the previous generation of designs like the Motorola 6800 sold for around US$250.

[4] In the early 1990s, partnered with Cetus Corporation (and later Hoffmann-La Roche) to pioneer the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) equipment industry.

Analytical-instruments business was also operated from 1954 to 2001 in Germany, by the Bodenseewerk Perkin-Elmer GmbH located in Überlingen at Lake Constance, and England (Perkin Elmer Ltd) at Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire.

[13] At that point, Perkin-Elmer said they had culminated their multi-year process of exiting from computer market, allowing them to focus on their primary business segments.

Following on from the selloff, a number of small businesses were acquired, including Spectral Genomics, Improvision, Evotec-Technologies, Euroscreen, ViaCell, and Avalon Instruments.

PerkinElmer has continued to expand its interest in medicine with the acquisitions of clinical laboratories, In July 2006, it acquired NTD Labs located on Long Island, New York.

In 2007, it purchased ViaCell, Inc. for US$300 million,[16] which included its offices in Boston and cord blood storage facility in Kentucky near Cincinnati.

[31] In June the company announced it would acquire SIRION Biotech, a specialist in viral vector gene delivery methods.

Due to a miscalibrated null corrector, the primary mirror was also found to have a significant spherical aberration after reaching orbit on STS-31.

Perkin-Elmer's own calculations and measurements revealed the primary mirror's surface discrepancies, but the company chose to withhold that data from NASA.

A NASA investigation heavily criticized Perkin-Elmer for management failings, disregarding written quality guidelines, and ignoring test data that revealed the miscalibration.

The company agreed to pay US$15 million, essentially forgoing its fees in polishing the mirror, to avoid a threatened liability lawsuit under the False Claims Act by the Federal government.

Hughes Aircraft, which acquired the Danbury Optical System unit one month after the launch of the telescope, paid US$10 million.