In 2008, AS&E marks the Company's 50th anniversary. Since its founding in 1958, AS&E has grown to over $166 million in annual revenues with over 360 global employees.
AS&E has a strong and storied history of scientific innovation, particularly in the field of X-ray technology. Formed in 1958, AS&E began as a developer of scientific instruments and applications for NASA. In 1959, Dr. Riccardo Giacconi joined AS&E and created an X-ray astronomy team. In the coming decades, Dr. Giacconi's team made a succession of pioneering discoveries and developments in the field of X-ray technology, including the discovery of the first known X-ray source outside the solar system (1962), the first successful soft X-ray photograph of the sun (1965), the launch of the first satellite dedicated completely to X-ray astronomy (1970), and the launch of the Einstein Observatory - world's largest X-ray telescope (1978). Dr. Giacconi's pioneering work at AS&E later earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics.
In subsequent years, AS&E also developed innovative technologies in the fields of defense, education, medicine, non-destructive testing, and security. AS&E's additional technological achievements include: development of low energy, high resolution Computed Tomography (CT) scanning of the human body, derivatives of which are used today in medical scanning systems worldwide; as well as development of the first practical rail car inspection system used by the U.S. Government to scan rail cars leaving Russian missile factories, to confirm compliance with the 1972 Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. AS&E also designed and implemented high-resolution non-destructive testing systems to inspect aluminum welds on the U.S. Space Station.
AS&E's proprietary technologies, protected by more than 45 patents, offer customers worldwide superior detection of threats and contraband to combat terrorism, drug and weapon smuggling, trade fraud, and illegal immigration. Today, AS&E's X-ray inspection systems can be found in 137 countries around the world and are used by leading government agencies, border authorities, military bases, airports, and corporations worldwide in many mission-critical applications.
