Continued from page 6
Chappelle said: “I read.” Such is the never ending curiosity of an
inventor.
in his West Baltimore home.
“I would build things, I would take things apart and not be able
to put them back together again,” he chuckled. “I got into a bit of
trouble for that.”
CLAUDE DAVIS
And in spite of onerous chores, one of which was to fertil-
ize the grasses that lined the irrigation ditches with cow dung,
Military veteran
Chappelle found the time to explore his world through books.
Claude Davis, 51, of Alexandria, Va., was driving across the
Woodrow Wilson Bridge when he saw a man fishing in a row-
There are nearly 4,000 patents
boat and he thought, “What if he falls
in?” The vision was planted then
held by countless inventors in the
of inventing an inflatable life
vest, one that was markedly
tri-state area.
different from the shrill
orange of usual marine fare.
That was 1994, and now,
“I didn’t mind too much because I got to read among the grass...
more than a decade later,
I read everything I could get my hands on.”
the vision is still alive.
To hear the 81-year-old’s life story is to start on a trail of
“It’s been many years
humble beginnings and end at the lofty heights of social and
since this thing would not
professional acclaim. It begins on a dairy and cotton farm in
leave me alone,” Davis said
Phoenix, Ariz., and ends in the halls of NASA in Maryland;
with a shake of his head. “It
begins in a one-room school house and trails to the campuses of
takes a whole lot of God
distinguished U.S. universities; begins as the story of a farm boy
and perseverance [to be a
dreaming of changing the world and ends as that of an inductee
successful inventor].”
in the Inventors Hall of Fame.
Davis’ version of the life vest
You would never know from Chappelle’s soft-spoken reticence
Continued on
that he is one of this country’s premier scientists and the holder
Page 8
of 14 U.S. patents. He seemed almost shy about discussing
his achievements and about his May 2007 induction into the
Inventors Hall of Fame, all he said was, “I’m proud of it.”
Chappelle was drafted in 1942 into the Army Specialized
Training Program, a special engineering unit. After return-
ing four years later, he attended the University of California at
Berkeley where he graduated in 1950 with a degree in biology.
Later he earned his master’s from the University of Washington,
taught biochemistry at Meharry Medical College from 1950 to
1953 and worked as a research assistant at Stanford University.
In 1958, Chappelle moved to Baltimore to work at the
Research Institute for Advanced Studies, where he made a dis-
covery that would help create a safe oxygen supply for astronauts.
He discovered that one-celled plants, like algae, can convert car-
bon dioxide to oxygen, thereby providing a lightweight source of
air.
In 1966, Chappelle joined the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration as a research chemist, where he con-
ducted his most interesting work in the area of luminescence.
Using enzymes from fireflies that produce light when
mixed with a compound found in all living cells, Chappelle
pioneered a method of detecting life on Mars, of detecting
the presence of bacteria and of determining the health of
crops by satellite. The last, Chappelle said, was his most
inspiring find.
“Being a farm boy, I found this the most exciting,” he
said.
Of what it demanded to achieve his success, Chappelle
said, “It demanded hard work. I worked late every day in
NASA but it was enjoyable.”
It’s a value he demonstrated to the many students he
mentored while at the agency.
After retiring from NASA in 2001, Chappelle con- Photo by Zenitha Prince
tinued to go in two to three times a week to work. Now, Claude Davis said it was only after he gave his life to Christ that the
he is enjoying his family and doing one more thing, ideas began flowing in earnest.
A publication of the Afro-American Newspapers Trends 7
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