50 years since modern cleanroom invented

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Fifty years ago, Sandia Labs scientist Willis Whitfield invented the modern-day cleanroom.
    
Whitfield, the former lab physicist, passed away this month at the age of 92, but was dubbed "Mr. Clean" by Time magazine.
    
In his initial design, Whitfield’s solution was to constantly flush out the room with highly filtered air.
    
His creation created a work environment that was more than a thousand times cleaner than any other cleanroom at the time.

”If I were to guess one of the things he's most proud of would be the changes he brought in the medical field, and that's because he actually went out and saved lives and he avoided infection in operating rooms,” Willis’ son, Jim Whitfield, said.
    
The cleanroom design also made it possible for Sandia to standardize cleanrooms for the first time in 1963 for the federal government.