Poulter describes a busy and involved family life in Iowa, where he worked from an early age in his father's ditching-machine business with pattern-making, inventions, and blacksmithing. He taught physics while attending the same high school (1914-1918), then joined the U.S. Navy in 1918 and returned to school in 1921. Poulter received his B.S. from Iowa Wesleyan College (IWC) in 1923; took a position as head of the chemistry division at IWC (1925); and served as head of the math, physics and astronomy divisions with "great creativity and much success" while attending graduate school at the University of Chicago; (Ph.D., 1933). As a senior scientist, he participated in the Second Byrd Antarctic expedition (1933-1935), then went on to positions as the scientific and associate director for the Armour Research Foundation (ARF) where he designed an antarctic snow cruiser and participated as science advisor (1936-1948). Poulter further describes his World War II work at the ARF; joining the Stanford Research Institute in 1948, and the SRI Poulter Laboratories (1954-1960).