Moon Soil Researcher
Prof. William T. Jackson of the Department of Biological Sciences is par- ticipating in a detailed examination of the biological effects of lunar soil obtained during the historic Apollo 11 mission.
He is one of several academic scientists chosen to augment the permanent NASA staff at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas. He has extensively studied the effects of toxic materials, particularly weed killers, on plants and it was on the basis of his expertise in this area that he was asked to help analyze "moon dust."
Using the Murdough Experimental Greenhouse atop the Gilman Life Sciences Laboratory, Dr. Jackson has forced a very special plant to flower throughout the year. This plant, the African Blood Lily, also brightens the homes of many alumni who received a souvenir specimen while attending Alumni College.
Although the showy flowers are a conversation piece, Dr. Jackson grows hundreds of the plants for one primary purpose - to provide a continuous supply of dividing cells that can be used in teaching and research. Dartmouth students are perhaps the only ones in the world who routinely have the opportunity to make their own preparations and watch cell division as it occurs.
Dr. Jackson uses these cells to determine immediately whether a substance, be it a weed killer or "moon dust," interferes with the vital process of cell division.
First significant conclusions of the biological study aspects of the Apollo 11 moon-landing mission were released to an interested world in early October: moon soil, acting like a nutrient, apparently stimulates plant growth.
The two-pronged research effort had sought to determine whether the "moon dust" contained microorganisms which could induce disease and, secondly, how the material affected plants, animals, and microbes on earth.
Initial results of the pathogenecity tests on plants rubbed with lunar soil showed it was germ-free. Dr. Jackson, in the vernacular of space-age science, said, "All biological organisms- including the astronauts - were found free of contamination."
He worked in the $15-million Lunar Receiving Laboratory in which the astronauts were quarantined, but his work did not require that he be quarantined. The actual biological and geological testing was accomplished "behind the barrier," which meant that all information to be analyzed, including records and photographs, had to be decontaminated chemically before it could be removed from the test area.
Dr. Jackson emphasized that a very important by-product of the study of effects of "moon dust" on plants is the development of better facilities and techniques to contain the hypothetical microbes. He observed, "The preliminary testing to make sure that the plants used were 'germ-free' before subjecting them to moon samples revealed serious inadequacies in current aseptic techniques. Dr. Charles H. Walkinshaw Jr. and his associates, using the special facilities at the Lunar Receiving Laboratory, are now on their way to developing truly germ-free plants."
It is recognized in the scientific community that even so-called sterile human tissue culture strains are actually contaminated with PPLO, a bacteria-like microorganism. Obviously, the de- velopment of germ-free plants and animals is an important goal in modern biology.
Dr. Jackson freely admits that the scientific conclusions, drawn in the aftermath of the historic Apollo 11 flight, are tentative and may be modified when new data become available. Crews of Apollo 12, scheduled to take off November 14, and Apollo 13, blasting off next spring, will investigate different areas of the moon. More importantly, they will dig deeper into the lunar surface, returning samples protected from temperature extremes and solar radiation.
Prof. William T. Jackson
