Mary Fritz exemplifies the spirit of Citizen Science Belleville
Mary Fritz is a cherished member of the community in Belleville, WI, where she, her children, and her grandchildren have served for many years. Like any member of a community, Mary’s life deeply touches the lives of others who touch yet others, and so on — if you live in Belleville and do not know Mary Fritz, chances are you know someone who does.
Most people who know Mary are not aware that, when she was 17, she was the first civilian test subject for a new drug, and that drug saved her life. Were it not for that act of science, our community would not enjoy all the richness that Mary and her children have brought us. We owe a debt to science. Without it we would have been deprived of Mary’s friendship, her wisdom, her inspiration, her compassion, and her practical productivity.
The loss would have been astounding. Yet the value of Mary’s participation in that act of science went beyond impact in our immediate community because advances in science are our global legacy. By serving as a test subject, Mary contributed to the development of a drug which continues to save lives all over the world. You’ve probably heard of the drug she tested— it’s name is “penicillin.”
Mary isn’t seeking any credit. “Someone else would have been the first test subject, if not me,” she says, “I was just at the right place at the right time.”
But isn’t that always the way it is with science? If Alexander Fleming had not discovered penicillin, wouldn’t someone else have discovered it eventually? We each find ourselves at the right time and place for something eventually, and we deserve credit for how we act when that time comes.
Around the world, over 8 million doses of antibiotic are currently administered each hour. How many total people over the years would have been deprived of antibiotics if Mary had refused to serve as a test subject and it took a week to find a replacement for her? The calculation is complicated because the total compounds over time, but it is certainly more than 8 million. Let’s conservatively estimate that 8 million lives would have been lost if Mary had not served as a test subject. Wow!
Of course, Mary could not have known that penicillin would save her life, nor that it would turn-out to be so important to others, so the same credit is merited by anyone who serves as a test subject for any potential life-saving drug. Few test subjects are as lucky as Mary was, but that isn’t their fault — they behave just as admirably as Mary did.
We should also note the difference between proposing a drug and serving as a test subject. This is the part of Mary’s story that relates most to Citizen Science Belleville. Citizen Science Belleville devotes itself to test the replicability of experiments. That’s different from doing the original experiment, and scientists who test replicability get no more glory than people who serve as test subjects, even though all roles in the scientific enterprise are essential.
Mary is an exemplary member of Citizen Science Belleville. She has the education and ability to be a professional scientist, but she isn’t in it for the fame. If our children and grandchildren can enjoy better health, relationships or well-being than we do, that’s reason enough for us to engage in science. We want to build a broad social network to help us identify studies to test, refine our protocols, recruit test-subjects, and raise funds. Please help build that network by liking our Facebook page and sharing this message.
