Bill Wolverton

Early life and career

Bill Wolverton was born and lived his early life in the rural areas of Mississippi. After High School he served the United States Air Force. After military service he started studies in Chemistry at Mississippi College and was awarded the Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry in 1960. Further on he became civilian scientist at the Naval Weapons Laboratory in Dahlgren, Virginia. He worked as head of the Chemical/Biological Branch Laboratory where he researched methods for protecting military from chemical poisonings during war. In 1965 he was transferred to Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, where he continued his research on the subject of chemical warfare. His studies resulted in numerous patents. In Florida he started to focus also on Marine Biology at the University of West Florida.

In 1971 he was recruited to NASA as head of the Environmental Research Laboratory at the Mississippi Test Facility. The primary focus of the laboratory was to study the environment´s natural abilities to cleanse itself and to study how to create a closed life supporting system for long-term space habituation.

After completing his Doctorate degree in environmental engineering in 1978 he turned his attention to indoor air quality problems. He worked together with his colleague Rebecca McDonald to find out whether house plants could remove toxins from air in the same way as marine plants could from the environment.

In 1980 funding was granted and a study on formaldehyde began. Three plants Golden Pothos (Scindapsus aureus), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) and Nephthytis (Syngonium podophyllum) ability to remove formaldehyde from air in a closed chamber were tested. The initial results showed that plants had an ability to remove formaldehyde from air. In following years many further studies were conducted and they resulted in the NASA research that was published in 1984 in the Journal of Economic Botany. One of the conclusions of those researches was that "To meet the air purification needs of the home (...) 8-15 spider plants (3.8 l pot size) would be need to purify the air continuously"

The studies continued and a final report was published by NASA in 1989 which resulted in huge public interest of the findings. The study was quoted since in many different sources all over the world and Dr. Bill Wolverton have been subject to numerous TV-shows and interviews. In 1990, following the release of the NASA Clean Air Study, Dr. Wolverton retired from NASA and started a small research company of his own (Wolverton Environmental Services) together with his wife Yvonne and son, John. Since leaving NASA he has given numerous lectures and written books on the subject. He has also released over 70 scientific technical papers.