Bill Wolverton

B. C. “Bill” Wolverton (born 1932) is an American scientist specialized in chemistry, microbiology, biochemistry, marine biology and environmental engineering.

He is well known for being one of the scientists conducting the famous NASA Clean Air Study, where plants were tested in order to find out their ability to purify air. He completed his PhD in environmental engineering in 1978.

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.

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