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By Arolyn Koroma, Washington DC.
A Sierra Leonean, David Kargbo, PhD, has been inducted into the exclusive club of world scientists.
The Marquis Who Is Who Publications Board publishes on scientific inventors, discoverers and other very important personalities in America.
According to its Charter, “…inclusion is limited to those individuals who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in their own fields of endeavor and who have, thereby, contributed significantly to the betterment of contemporary society.”
Since its inception in 1899 each year the Marquis Who’s Who staff researches people from all walks of life that merit inclusion in the Who Is Who in America. Since its inaugural publication in 1899 it has featured such luminaries as renowned scientist Einstein, the most famous scientist that ever lived; Thomas Edison, the scientist who invented the light bulb; Henry Ford, the businessman who invented the first vehicle; Edward Teller, the scientist who invented the atomic bomb and a few others. For the year 2010, David Kargbo, PhD., a distinguished Sierra Leone scientist, has been selected, and he may be the first African to date.
Dr. David M. Kargbo had researched and published on how to cheaply convert sludge (filth) and other fat containing wastes to biodiesel to save our world of refuse and improve public health all over the world. The American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society, described the publication as one of the most important in its 240-year history.
Dr. Kargbo’s research is based on Biodiesel production from Municipal Sewage Sludge. The result of his research has sparked a flood of requests from the international science community requesting him to assist corporations that are producing sludge on how to save planet earth so that mankind can live in a better and healthy world. Waste water facilities around the world are seeking his assistance to utilize his research and knowledge to solve a world scientific dilemma of reducing or turning waste into useful purposes. German, French, Chinese, American and Australian science research corporations, to name a few, have for years been trying to crack the mystery of how industrial and municipal sludge could be transformed into a useful product. Dr. Kargbo’s findings, when properly implemented, could immensely minimize the problem of companies disposing of sludge at sea and ecologically sensitive and useful land.
These finding have huge implications and applications for Sierra Leone. The true measure of the wealth of a nation is the health of its citizens, not necessarily its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as commonly portrayed by economists and the media because an unhealthy workforce cannot adequately produce goods and services. Collecting and processing all wastes containing fatty waste products in Sierra Leone will mean less exposure to disease causing wastes. Transforming these wastes to biodiesel that can be used by motorists will improve our economy and help spur the growth of many related industries.
Additionally, it will reduce the country’s dependence on foreign petroleum products. According to Dr. Kargbo, implementation will require cooperation from the government in a manner that will encourage outside investors to invest in the huge initial capital outlay for such a worthwhile economical, healthy, environmental or otherwise sustainable project in Sierra Leone.
Dr. Kargbo’s additional endeavors in the alternative energy field is a recent publication on how to extract the huge natural gas deposits from the Marcellus Shale, one of the largest natural gas reserves in the world, without causing the kind of environmental disaster that the recent BP Oil spill caused in the United States Gulf of Mexico. His publication has caught the interest of the world’s energy producers and is serving as the roadmap for oil and natural gas producers around the world.
Also, among Dr. Kargbo’s many discoveries are how to take ash from the burning of wood and waste material and make zeolites which are materials with huge worldwide industrial and environmental applications for a sustainable world. This discovery earned Dr. Kargbo the highly coveted Bronze Medal from the United States Government.
David Kargbo (photo) was born at Lungi, Kaffu Bullom Chiefdom in Sierra Leone. He lived with his parents who instilled in him the significance and benefits of education, honesty, and perseverance and started his search for educational excellence at the Benkeh Elementary School and the Mahera Primary School at Lungi, and then the Peninsula Secondary School at Waterloo. He later attended Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone where he earned a B.Sc. (with Honors in Chemistry) degree.
At the FAO/UNDP Land Resources Survey Project of the United Nations, David excelled in his position as Agricultural Chemist and he was selected among a multitude of his peers as a Fellow of the United Nations and granted a United Nations Fellowship for studies in the United States. David received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees with distinction from the University of Nebraska, USA.
He is currently a Senior Scientist in the Office of Environmental Innovation at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and he is an Adjunct Professor of Environmental Engineering at Temple University College of Engineering.
David has a keen desire to help in the development of his beloved Sierra Leone so that future generations would enjoy the same benefits he enjoyed while growing up in Sierra Leone.
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