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| Emmitt Chappelle |
Then there are all of those other fluids that have to be checked. Spinal fluid, fluid around the lungs, or any other place you've got fluid you might not oughta have. The kind of fluid some doc might want to test.
What exactly are they testing for, and how are they testing for it?
I have to admit before we begin, that I was geeking out over this scientist so much that I got really sidetracked. I've culled the worst of it, but I left some of it in so you could see how nuts my brain went!
The journey to the answer to how docs are testing your urine starts in Phoenix, AZ in 1925.
Emmitt Chappelle was born to farmers. They planted cotton and herded cattle. Emmitt was a kid who was keenly interested in nature and spent his childhood roaming the desert looking at the wildlife there.
He attended a segregated one-room schoolhouse for most of his early education. He graduated top of his class of 25 from Phoenix Colored High School.
By then it was 1942, so he was drafted into the army. He was put into a special unit - I was unable to discover what this special unit was or what it did. The only thing I know for sure is that because he was in this unit he got to take engineering classes. That makes perfect sense, right?
He left the special unit - again, there is no info about why or anything - and was sent to Italy with the 92nd Infantry Division. It was a black unit that called itself the Buffalo Soldiers and had a buffalo as its patch.
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| 92nd Infantry |
Emmett was wounded twice and sent back to America.
This is my favorite part - He went to college on the GI Bill! That's right. Did you know that the GI Bill is one of the BEST investments the United States could make in its soldiers? The GI bill has paid this country back one thousandfold by giving soldiers who have fought for our country access to new careers and opportunities. Without this valuable program, our country would be poorer in so many ways. The GI education benefit should be bigger and far more generous than it is! My dad would never have managed what he has accomplished if not for the GI Bill.
Okay, so it hasn't always been administered colorblind and it has been downright discriminatory at times, but it has been successful in helping soldiers.
That said, off of my soapbox.
With the GI bill, Emmett Chappelle was able to get his BS in biochemistry from the University of California at Berkley in 1950. He got his Masters in biochemistry from the University of Washington. He worked as a scientist and biochemist for the Research Institute of Advanced Studies at Stanford between 1955 -1958.
In 1958 he left academia and became a research scientist in corporate America. He joined the research institute of Martin Marietta Corporation in Baltimore. They were all about airplanes and spacecraft.
An aside here - I love how many of these scientists I've looked at this year have some connection to space. Of course, it is possible that I have been subliminally picking space folk because I am completely and utterly in love with astrophysics. Nah. I'm sure that's not it.
Back to it! At this point in his career, Emmett Chappelle made a huge leap forward in cellular biochemistry.
He discovered that single-celled algae are photosynthetic. In other words, photosynthesis is happening on a cellular level.
This discovery enabled a couple of revolutions in space flight.
What? Yeah, I know, stay with me.
Algae could be incorporated into the environmental systems that clean and recycle the astronaut's air and could also be a replenishing source of food that could be cultivated on the spacecraft. (That doesn't sound yummy, but I suppose if you are hurtling through space in a metal container, gourmet food might not be a major concern)
This discovery also allowed scientists to learn more about all other single-celled organisms.
It was a huge discovery...but it didn't stop there.
In 1963 he ended up at NASA as an exobiologist - looking for life beyond the earth - and an astrochemist.
Astrochemist? I didn't even know that was a thing!
I need to write a book about a brilliant kid who is an amateur astrochemist! I am getting so sidetracked with this!
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| Viking Image |
In 1977, he went to the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. He became a remote sensing scientist. A what???
(In my brain I see him playing a cosmic game of Marco Polo with other scientists throughout the cosmos. I know that's not what it means, but that is what popped into my head.)
What a remote sensing scientist does is find ways to remotely monitor natural elements in order to improve environmental management. (I like the cosmic Marco Polo game better) These days they also look at threats from enemies and monitor urban areas for various scientific reasons.
This is where he made another huge mark on history. It began with his fascination with bioluminescence. Bioluminescence is a naturally occurring chemical reaction in some biological entities that creates light without heat. He wanted to understand it better.
I am sorry to say that many fireflies were sacrificed on the altar of science at this point.
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| RIP Little Dudes |
So, what did he discover?
Well, when you mix the satanic compounds - luciferase and luciferin - found in a firefly's blinking butt - with a chemical called Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) - which is a compound found in all living cells - the ATP will fluoresce.
Why is this important?
Well, if you are an exobiologist and you are looking for life on Mars, and your robot has a scrapy, scrapy tool for scraping rocks, and you put the satanic compounds from a firefly's blinking but on one of the scraped rock and it fluoresces, then there is a good chance you have just found bacterial life on Mars!
Theoretically.
Yes, yes, yes, but what practical application does any of this have?
Well, Emmett Chappelle discovered that you could find bacterial life in any substance using this technique, not just on scraped rocks on Mars.
He proved this using semen. (I decided I didn't need to know more about this particular choice of substance)
What is the repercussion of this?
For the first time in history, it was possible to find the most remote traces of bacteria in any substance. That includes identifying whether we have undetected bacterial infections in our bodily fluids, foods, water - anything that might be contaminated.
He's the reason it is worthwhile for you to pee in a cup, and why a doctor can detect the earliest signs of something gone amiss with your system. Every single test a doctor does to check to see if you have a bacterial infection is successful because of Emmitt Chappelle's work.
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This discovery changed how everyone in the world manages forests and crop yields. It increased successful food production.
Emmett Chappelle died in October of 2019 at the age of 93.
- He is often cited as one of the most important scientists of the 20th Century.
He accrued fourteen patents for his various discoveries, wrote books and scholarly articles, and mentored and encouraged a generation of African American youth in the sciences.
- Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal from NASA
- Member of the American Chemical Society
- Member of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Member of the American Society of Photobiology
- Member of the American Society of Black Chemists
- 2007 Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his work on bioluminescence
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| Emmett Chappelle |
His jobs had cool titles. He was fascinated with nature and fascinating as a person.
Thank you for giving us some tools to see the world in a different light!
Celebrate Black History!
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