Roseli Ocampo-Friedmann (November 23, 1937 – September 4, 2005) was a Filipino-American microbiologist and botanist who specialized in the study of cyanobacteria and

extremophile An extremophile (from Latin ' meaning "extreme" and Greek ' () meaning "love") is an organism that is able to live (or in some cases thrive) in extreme environments, i.e. environments that make survival challenging such as due to extreme temper ...

s. Her work has been cited in work exploring the

terraforming of Mars The terraforming of Mars or the terraformation of Mars is a hypothetical procedure that would consist of a planetary engineering project or concurrent projects, with the goal of transforming Mars from a planet hostile to terrestrial life to on ...

Biography

Ocampo-Friedmann was born Roseli Ocampo on November 23, 1937 in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

to Eliseo and Generosa Ocampo. She earned a degree in botany from the

University of the Philippines The University of the Philippines (UP; fil, Pamantasan ng Pilipinas Unibersidad ng Pilipinas) is a state university system in the Philippines. It is the country's national university, as mandated by Republic Act No. 9500 (UP Charter of 20 ...

in 1958. After completing her master's at

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

in 1966, she returned to the Philippines to work for Manila's National Institute of Science and Technology. In 1968, she joined Dr. Imre Friedmann at Florida State University where she received her PhD in 1973. Roseli married Friedmann in 1974. In 1987, she became a professor at

Florida A&M University Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), commonly known as Florida A&M, is a public historically black land-grant university in Tallahassee, Florida. Founded in 1887, It is the third largest historically black university in the Un ...

Tallahassee Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2020, the population ...

, while working summers at Florida State University with Friedmann. Later in her career, she served as a scientific consultant for the

SETI Institute The SETI Institute is a not-for-profit research organization incorporated in 1984 whose mission is to explore, understand, and explain the origin and nature of life in the universe, and to use this knowledge to inspire and guide present and futu ...

. Together with her husband, the couple traveled internationally to study algae and other microorganisms. In the mid-1970s, the couple went to the Ross Desert in the

Dry Valleys The McMurdo Dry Valleys are a row of largely snow-free valleys in Antarctica, located within Victoria Land west of McMurdo Sound. The Dry Valleys experience extremely low humidity and surrounding mountains prevent the flow of ice from nearby ...

region of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

, where the mountain ranges were thought to be lifeless. They were a frigid, arid area mostly without ice or snow. These microorganisms (called cryptoendoliths) would tolerate the cold and in the summer thaw, rehydrate, and photosynthesize, and were able to colonize the Beacon sandstone. After successfully culturing them in the laboratory with her "blue-green thumb", the couple wrote an article detailing their discovery on September 24, 1976. This work was cited by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

and

Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the mo ...

as the basis for

life on Mars The possibility of life on Mars is a subject of interest in astrobiology due to the planet's proximity and similarities to Earth. To date, no proof of past or present life has been found on Mars. Cumulative evidence suggests that during the ...

when the Viking 1 spacecraft touched down on the planet on July 20, 1976 as the planet has similar conditions.

Friedmann Peak Friedmann Peak () is a prominent peak rising to in the central part of Kennett Ridge, in the Darwin Mountains of Antarctica. It was named after Roseli Ocampo Friedmann, professor of microbiology at Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, Florida, w ...

, in the

Darwin Mountains The Darwin Mountains is a group of mountains between the Darwin and Hatherton glaciers in Antarctica. Discovered by the British National Antarctic Expedition (1901–04) and named for Major Leonard Darwin, at that time Honorary Secretary of the ...

, where she co-discovered

endolith An endolith or endolithic is an organism ( archaeon, bacterium, fungus, lichen, algae or amoeba) that is able to acquire the necessary resources for growth in the inner part of a rock, mineral, coral, animal shells, or in the pores between min ...

ic microorganisms in the Beacon sandstone, is named after her. The National Science Foundation awarded her the Antarctic Service Medal in 1981. During her lifetime, she collected over 1,000 types of microorganisms from extreme environments around the world. Ocampo-Friedmann died September 4, 2005, of

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

in Kirkland, Washington.

Publications

*Onofri S, Fenice M, Cicalini AR, Tosi S, Magrino A, Pagano S, Selbmann L, Zucconi L, Vishniac HS, Ocampo‐Friedmann R, Friedmann EI. Ecology and biology of microfungi from Antarctic rocks and soils. Italian journal of Zoology. 2000 Jan 1;67(S1):163-7. *Billi D, Friedmann EI, Hofer KG, Caiola MG, Ocampo-Friedmann R. Ionizing-radiation resistance in the desiccation-tolerant cyanobacterium Chroococcidiopsis. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.. 2000 Apr 1;66(4):1489-92. *Friedmann EI, Ocampo-Friedmann R. A primitive cyanobacterium as pioneer microorganism for terraforming Mars. Advances in Space Research. 1995 Mar 1;15(3):243-6. *Grilli Caiola M, Ocampo-Friedmann R, Friedmann EI. Cytology of long-term desiccation in the desert cyanobacterium Chroococcidiopsis (Chroococcales). Phycologia. 1993 Sep 1;32(5):315-22. *Friedmann EI, Hua M, Ocampo-Friedmann RO. Terraforming Mars: dissolution of carbonate rocks by cyanobacteria. Journal of the British Interplanetary Society. 1993;46:291-2. *Friedmann EI, Hua M, Ocampo-Friedmann R. 3.6 Cryptoendolithic lichen and cyanobacterial communities of the Ross Desert, Antarctica. Polarforschung. 1988;58(2/3):251-9. *Bonani G, Friedmann EI, Ocampo-Friedmann R, McKay CP, Woelfli W. Preliminary report on radiocarbon dating of cryptoendolithic microorganisms. Polarforschung. 1988;58(2-3):199. *Friedmann EI, Ocampo-Friedmann R.Endolithic microorganisms in extreme dry environments: analysis of a lithobiontic microbial habitat. Current perspectives in microbial ecology. 1984:177-85. *Friedmann EI, Ocampo-Friedmann R. The Antarctic cryptoendolithic ecosystem: relevance to exobiology. Origins of life. 1984 Dec 1;14(1-4):771-6. *Potts M, Ocampo-Friedmann R, Bowman MA, Tözűn B. Chroococcus S24 and Chroococcus N41 (cyanobacteria): morphological, biochemical and genetic characterization and effects of water stress on ultrastructure. Archives of microbiology. 1983 Aug 1;135(2):81-90. * Friedmann EI, Ocampo R. Endolithic blue-green algae in the dry valleys: primary producers in the Antarctic desert ecosystem. Science. 1976 Sep 24;193(4259):1247-9.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ocampo-Friedmann, Roseli 1937 births 2005 deaths American people of Filipino descent Filipino women scientists Florida A&M University faculty Florida State University alumni Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni People from Manila University of the Philippines alumni American women botanists American microbiologists Filipino microbiologists Women microbiologists Neurological disease deaths in Washington (state) Deaths from Parkinson's disease American botanists 20th-century American women scientists 20th-century American scientists American women academics 21st-century American women

Biography

Publications

See also

References