American scientist inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for groundbreaking work in bioluminescence.
Emmett Chappelle (1925 – 2019) was a scientist who made strides in the fields of medicine, astrochemistry, and food science. He earned a B.S. in biology from the University of California, Berkeley and an M.S. in biology from the University of Washington. Joining the Research Institute in Baltimore in 1958, here Chappelle discovered that single-celled organisms such as algae are photosynthetic. Later in life, he joined NASA as an exobiologist and astrochemist, working on instruments designed to collect soil from the surface of Mars. While designing these instruments, he began studying bioluminescence. During this research, he developed a method to detect ATP using chemicals causing bioluminescence in fireflies. His work at NASA was recognized in 1994, when Chappelle was awarded NASA’s Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal. For all his work, he has achieved multiple patents and has been honored as one of the 100 most distinguished African American scientists of the 20th century.