Willis Whitfield

{{Short description|American physicist}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Willis Whitfield

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1919|12|6}}

| birth_place = Rosedale, Oklahoma

| death_date = {{Death date|2012|11|12|1919|12|6}}

| death_place = Albuquerque, New Mexico

| alma_mater = Hardin-Simmons University (BS)
George Washington University

| known_for = Invention of the modern clean room

}}

Willis Whitfield (December 6, 1919 – November 12, 2012[https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/business/willis-whitfield-clean-room-inventor-dies-at-92.html?ref=obituaries&_r=0 Willis Whitfield, Inventor of Clean Room That Purges Tiny Particles, Dies at 92], New York Times, 4 December 2012.[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/9740330/Willis-Whitfield.html Obituary], The Daily Telegraph, 12 December 2012.) was an American physicist and inventor of the modern cleanroom, a room with a low level of pollutants used in manufacturing or scientific research. His invention earned him the nickname, "Mr. Clean," from Time Magazine.{{cite news |title=Sandia physicist, cleanroom inventor dies at 92 |url=http://www.kwes.com/story/20187574/sandia-physicist-cleanroom-inventor-dies-at-92 |work=KWES |publisher=Associated Press |date=2012-11-26 |access-date=2012-12-03 }}{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite news|first=Heather|last=Clark |title=Willis Whitfield, inventor of modern-day laminar-flow clean room, passes away |url=http://www.sandia.gov/news/publications/LabNews/archive/_assets/documents/labnews11-16-12.pdf |work=Sandia Lab News |date=2012-11-16 |access-date=2012-12-03}}

Whitfield was born in Rosedale, Oklahoma, the son of a cotton farmer. Between 1942 and 1944, he served as a ground radar crew chief in the Signal Corps, later serving in the Navy until the end of World War 2. He would graduate from Hardin-Simmons University in 1952 with a Bachelor of Science in physics and mathematics, later pursuing graduate studies at George Washington University.{{Cite web|url=https://www.hsutx.edu/about-hsu/dr-willis-whitfield/|title=Dr. Willis Whitfield - Hardin-Simmons University|website=hstux.edu|access-date=4 November 2021}}

An employee of the Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, Whitfield created the initial plans for the cleanroom in 1960. Prior to Whitfield's invention, earlier cleanrooms often had problems with particles and unpredictable airflows. Whitfield solved this problem by designing his cleanrooms with a constant, highly filtered air flow to flush out impurities in the air. Within a few years of its invention, sales of Whitfield's modern cleanroom had generated more than $50 billion in sales worldwide.

Whitfield retired from Sandia in 1984.

Whitfield died in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on November 12, 2012, at the age of 92. His death was announced by officials at Sandia National Laboratories. Two years after his death, he would be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.{{Cite web|url=https://www.invent.org/inductees/willis-whitfield|title=NIHF Inductee Willis Whitfield Created the Clean Room|website=invent.org|access-date=4 November 2021}}