Benson-Lehner Corporation

Benson-Lehner Corporation
Company typePublic
IndustryData Processing
Founded1950; 74 years ago (1950) in Santa Monica, California
FoundersBernard Benson and George Lehner
FateAcquired by United Gas Corporation in 1965

Benson-Lehner Corporation was an early digital technology company that initially made plotters and other input-output devices that were purchased by branches of the U.S. government during the Cold War. It later marketed high-speed precision cameras used for similar military applications, including nuclear bomb and missile testing. Benson-Lehner’s executives were almost entirely WW2 veterans. Its founders were Bernard Benson, a former British Spitfire pilot, and George Lehner, a UCLA psychology professor and inventor. Benson-Lehner was initially based in Santa Monica and had manufacturing plants in England and France. It was later headquartered in West Los Angeles and Van Nuys.