Development of cleanrooms: historical review

Tim Sandle has traced the history ofcleanrooms in two part feature. Part 1 covers the early concept of clean spaces, as required for surgery, and traces these to developments immediately post-war. Part 2 will address the coming of modern cleanroom designs for pharmaceuticals and healthcare.

The abstract reads:

“This article discusses the development and progress of cleanrooms and describes the significant historical milestones, taking the eighteenth century concept of a ‘clean space’ to the twenty-first century cleanroom. The history of cleanrooms is intimately entwined with two strands of technological development: medicine and military. The medical origins can be traced back to the attempts to create a clean environment, first for field surgery and later for operating theatres; whilst the military applications stem from attempts to assemble precision engineered mechanisms in environments where dust particles posed a risk to the device mechanics. Further on, developments with the atomic power, spacecraft and electronics spurred technological advances in cleanrooms, followed by the later application of cleanrooms in the pharmaceutical industry, led to the modern cleanroom technology of the twenty-first century.

This article is in two parts. Part one looks at the concept of clean air and the development of cleanrooms up until the 1960s. Part 2 addresses the developments since the 1970s and the driver for a unified, international cleanroom standard.”

The reference is:

Sandle, T. (2016) The development of cleanrooms: an historical review. Part 1: From civil war to safe surgical practice, The Journal – Institute of Science & Technology, Autumn 2016, pp41-47 (ISSN 2040-1868)

For further details, please contact Tim Sandle

Posted by Dr. Tim Sandle