Albuquerque, NM – US physicist Willis Whitfield, developer of the clean room, has died of cancer at 92.

While a researcher at Sandia National Laboratories in the 1950s and '60s, Whitfield discovered how to remove microscopic particles of dust from an enclosed environment, creating the technology that is now used globally in virtually all technological, semiconductor and medical arenas.

Within a few years of development, his clean room had produced more than $50 billion in sales worldwide.

Whitfield is survived by his wife, Belva, and by two sons.