Who We Are

The Corsi-Rosenthal Foundation is a Not for Profit Corporation in the US and in the process of registering as a Charity in the UK.

Our mission is to improve human health by supplying and promoting the use of air purifiers to clean indoor air. 

Why We Are Needed

Humans spend up to 90% of our time indoors. 

Indoor spaces are often poorly ventilated and the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of clean air in preventing the spread of viruses and other pathogens that can cause disease. 

Airborne pathogens are not the only problem. Indoor air can be contaminated with allergens, pollutants and particulates which can cause acute and chronic illness, absenteeism and reduced quality of life.

Air purifiers are the best way to clean indoor air of airborne threats to our health, but often those most in need of air purifiers are least able to pay for them.

The Corsi-Rosenthal Foundation works to ensure the most vulnerable in society can enjoy the benefits of clean indoor air.

How We Do It

We fulfil our mission in two main ways.

We recommend or supply an air purifier to those most in need, either free of charge or with a voluntary donation that helps cover our costs. Those most in need include schools, healthcare settings and clinically extremely vulnerable people.

We also provide open source information including build instructions and kit lists, so people and organizations can build their own air purifiers. Corsi-Rosenthal boxes are the award-winning DIY air purifier named after our founders. This means those who need an inexpensive, powerful air purifier can build one themselves, using locally sourced components for a fraction of the price of a commercially manufactured air purifier.

In addition to this, we provide a general educational resource about air purification, infection control, and research through our website and network of expert professionals.

How We Started

The Corsi-Rosenthal Foundation began as a global grassroots movement to build a low cost, open source DIY air purifier in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The DIY air purifier, known as the Corsi-Rosenthal box, is named after Dr Richard Corsi, Dean of the School of Engineering at UC Davis, and Jim Rosenthal, owner of a filter manufacturer and distributer.

The beauty of the Corsi-Rosenthal box is that from inception it was designed to be completely open source, built from different components which builders could select on the basis of price or local availability while still arriving at a consistent end product air purifier with a CADR (clean air delivery rate) of around 1000m3/h and a cost between $70 - 150. This is a phenomenal rate of clean air exchange, as many more expensive commercial purifiers have rates between 200-400 CADR.

This approach made the Corsi-Rosenthal box an immediate hit. It has become widely used in schools in the US, winning awards and attracting the attention of the White House, where, we are pleased to say, you will find Corsi-Rosenthal boxes in use.

Growth of the Network

Building a Corsi-Rosenthal box isn’t just a cost-effective step towards cleaner indoor air, it’s also fun! 

Being open source allows people to get creative, and very quickly a global network of people optimising, improving and sharing their Corsi-Rosenthal boxes on social media started to drive adoption and improvement of the original design.

This network included everyone from members of the lay public following existing designs closely to expert engineers trying to improve or reiterate the original with their own innovations.

The Corsi-Rosenthal box isn’t just a nice idea. It has actually been tested against some of the most stringent air purifier standards in the world using ISO certified equipment by experts in aerosol science and public health. This is how we know the original Corsi-Rosenthal box easily holds its own against some of the most powerful and expensive commercial air purifiers on the market at a fraction of the price.

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