Emmett W. Chappelle Biography

Emmett W. Chappelle

Emmett W. Chappelle earned a B.S. degree from the University of California in 1950, and from 1950 to 1953 he served as an instructor of biochemistry at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. Chappelle earned an M.S. degree from the University of Washington in 1954. From 1955 to 1958, he was a research associate at Stanford University, and from 1958 to 1963 he became scientist and biochemist for the Research Institute of Advanced Studies at Stanford University. Between 1963 and 1966 Chappelle served as a biochemist for Hazelton Laboratories, then as an exobiologist and astrochemist. He went to work as a biochemist for the division of Research Center for Space Exploration before joining the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as a remote sensing scientist in 1977. Among Chappelle's discoveries is a method (developed with Grace Picciolo) of instantly detecting bacteria in water, which led to improved diagnoses of urinary tract infections. He retired from NASA in 2001.