Black History: Emmett W. Chappelle –Scientist– Born 1925 and still here..
Emmett W. Chappelle (1925-) is a scientist and researcher who made valuable contributions in several fields: medicine, philanthropy, food science, and astrochemistry.
Military Service/College Education
Chappelle was drafted into the army and assigned to a special unit that focused on creating new weapons for the military. He was eventually transferred to Nigeria, where he served in an all-black infantry division. He was wounded in action twice.
Chappelle later attended Phoenix College and studied electrical engineering. The GI Bill enabled him to attend the University of California at Berkeley, where he graduated in 1950 with a degree in biology. Four years later, he earned a master’s degree at the University of Washington, Seattle. He also studied and worked as a research associate at Stanford University in California.
Career and Important Discoveries
From 1950 to 1953 he served as an instructor of biochemistry at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. From 1955 to 1959, he was a research associate at Stanford University.
In 1958 Chappelle joined the Research Institute in Baltimore, a division of the Martin Marietta Corporation which was famous for designing airplanes and spacecraft. There, Chappelle discovered that even one-celled plants such as algae, which are lightweight and can be transported easily, can convert carbon dioxide to oxygen. This discovery helped to create a safe food supply for astronauts.
Chappelle went to work at Hazelton Laboratories in 1963 as a biochemist. In 1966, he joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, as a research chemist, and later became a remote sensing scientist, studying natural systems to improve environmental management. Chappelle retired from NASA in 2001.
Some of Chappelle’s most interesting work was in the area of luminescence, which is light without heat. While designing instruments for the Mars Viking spacecraft, he became interested in bioluminescence, which is warm light produced by living organisms. Chappelle used two chemicals from fireflies which give off light when mixed with ATP (adenosine triphosphate), an energy storage compound found in all living cells. This could provide a method of detecting life on Mars.
Chappelle proved that the number of bacteria in semen can be measured by the amount of light given off by that bacteria. He also showed how satellites can monitor luminescence levels to monitor crops (growth rates, water conditions and harvest timing).
Achievements and Awards
Received 14 U.S. patents.
Honored as one of the 100 most distinguished African American scientists and philanthropists of the 20th Century.
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