He was a German chemist and materials scientist. He was the inventor of manufacturing processes for tantalum light bulb filaments. Bolton studied chemistry in Berlin, Germany, and Leipzig, Germany, and worked as a student for Siemens & Halske. In 1896, he became director of a laboratory in the light bulb department of Siemens & Halske. With his colleague Otto Feuerlein, he worked on the use of tantalum as a material to be used for light bulb filaments.