It
is hard to imagine in this modern age having the restrictions that so many felt
under Jim Crow. It wasn’t fair and it
wasn’t right, but at the time it was the reality. Imagine being an intelligent young man who
wants to see how things work and only be allowed to attend school until 8th
grade and then told that’s it. This is
what happened to Dr. Percy Julian. He
was born in Montgomery, Alabama on April 11, 1899, the son of a railway clerk
and grandson of slaves he grew up and grew beyond the restrictions his era held
for African Americans. Thanks to an
insatiable desire to succeed he made history and went on to provide a way for
many of our modern medicinal needs.
In
1920, Percy Julian graduated from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana
serving as the class Valedictorian.
Given the 8th grade education he acquired, this feat alone is
amazing. He received the prestigious
Austin Fellowship from Harvard University as well, this made his determination
all the more amazing. He spent several
years teaching primarily at African American universities such as Howard and
West Virginia State College. For an
African American, and although he more than qualified, he was often passed over
for professorships and private sector positions. Travelling to Austria, Dr. Julian received
his doctorate from the University of Vienna in Chemistry of Medicinal Plants
where he met Josef Pikl.
Drs.
Julian and Pikl worked together creating the first total synthesis of
physostigmine, which is used to treat glaucoma and is found in the Calabar
bean. It was extremely expensive to try
and extract certain substances such as hormones and steroids from animals
tissues. The task of finding a way to
mimic these same or similar substances from plants would be revolutionary,
allowing for easier extractions, production and in the end making these
medication available to the masses as a more affordable cost.
After
working for several years teaching at the universities, he accepted a position
at Glidden Company in their Soya Division.
He was the head of research. During
his tenure there a vat of soy oil was contaminated by water, when it was
brought to his attention he identified the white growth as being stigmasterol,
which is used to produce the hormone progesterone. For those who don’t know, progesterone is a
female sex hormone, it is necessary to ensure pregnancy and to maintain
pregnancy in women. This accidental
contamination revolutionized the way progesterone would be produced. The problem wasn’t that the hormone couldn’t
be reproduced, it could and easily, but there was no way to mass produce the
hormone. Dr. Julian developed the
innovative process of extraction and was able to produce 5 to 6 pounds of progesterone
daily. This process led to the later
synthesis of cortisone and testosterone as well as a bunch of other hormones
and steroids that make living a little bit easier for people.
He
paved the way to make medications that were cost prohibitive to make and even
more so for people to purchase, more readily available. I imagine suffering with the pain and
discomfort of arthritis, which I do, and having no access to
anti-inflammatory and corticosteroids for reliefs. Thanks to this man and his colleagues we have
these treatments and they are affordable.
His work provided the foundation for chemical birth control and
immune suppressant drugs. He applied for
and held hundreds of patents.
Although
so much of his most notable work was in plant chemistry he did develop a soy
based foam Aero-Foam that was able to douse oil and gas fires. This was quickly picked up for use by the
military. He and his family were also the
first African Americans to own a home in Oak Park, Illinois. Initially, his reception wasn’t welcoming and
his house was fire bombed twice, but now the town celebrates his birthday,
adopting him as a hometown here.
Although
Dr. Julian has more accomplishments and was part of important work in the
medicinal and organic chemistry fields he was also a humanitarian working hard
to try and help give disadvantaged populations a helping hand. He sat on the boards of several notable organization
and universities, he also contributed to the NAACP legal and economic
funds.
His
death on April 19, 1975 was a great loss not only to the scientific community
but to society as a whole.
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Percy-Julian
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