Developing vaccines — for anthrax or any other human affliction — is just one of the pro-social undertakings Gordon Battelle had in mind when the Battelle Memorial Institute was created in 1929.

        The 8,000-employee, nonprofit research center in Columbus won't discuss its anthrax work, other than to acknowledge its development of a vaccine for the Department of Defense. At Battelle's sprawling 20-building campus across from Ohio State University, the anthrax project is easily overshadowed.

        Through the years, the institute has come into the limelight for developing the underpinnings of the Xerox copier, the compact disc and the bar code.

        Battelle generates about $1 billion a year doing contract research for almost 2,000 clients, including the government, according to its Web site (www.battelle.org).

        The institute has offices in 40 U.S. and European cities and operates several federal laboratories. Its 2,000 employees in Columbus make it the city's fifth-largest private employer.

        Gordon Battelle's father, industrialist John Gordon Battelle, died in 1918, leaving his wife and only child with a large inheritance. Five years later, Gordon Battelle himself died after an appendectomy. Not having any children, he directed his fortune go to the creation of an institute for “science and the service of mankind.”

        Battelle spokeswoman Katy Delaney said the institute is involved in the fight against cancer, lung diseases, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. It also developed the technology behind military garb worn in the event of biological or chemical warfare.

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