A Coulter counter is an apparatus for counting and sizing particles suspended in electrolytes, the commercial term for the technique known as resistive pulse sensing or electrical zone sensing. It is based on the Coulter principle, named after its inventor Wallace H. Coulter: particles drawn through a small orifice together with an electric current change the impedance in proportion to the volume of each particle, so each produces a brief pulse that the counter detects. Coulter discovered the principle in the late 1940s and was awarded United States patent 2,656,508 on October 20, 1953. Its most commercially successful application is in hematology, where it counts and sizes the cells of whole blood to obtain information about a patient's blood cells.
Facts
Patent or First-Use Date Material or Power Source Connections
Associated With
Source Wallace H. Coulter (Wikipedia)
Invented
Source Coulter Counter (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Coulter Counter (Wikipedia)
Development, patent
a patent was not awarded until October 20, 1953
Development, hematology
The most commercially successful application of the Coulter principle is in hematology, where it is used to obtain information about patients' blood cells.
Coulter principle, direct current
applies a direct current (DC) in order to count particles
Invented: Wallace H. Coulter, Lead, inventor
named after its inventor, Wallace H. Coulter
View the SourceWallace H. Coulter (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Wallace H. Coulter, Lead, Coulter CounterQuote, Associated With: Wallace H. Coulter, Lead, Coulter Counter
His invention of the Coulter Counter made possible today's most common medical diagnostic test
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