In praise of: Percy Julian

Chemist Percy Julian was like an alchemist with soybeans. He developed a soybean-derived foam that was used to put out fires during World War II. At Glidden Company, he developed a soy-based coating for papers, textiles, and paints that was much less expensive than the casein that had been used prior. He derived sterols from soybeans, which singnificantly reduced the cost of cortisol treatments for those suffering from arthritis.

He also took breaks from soybeans to develop other important developments: a drug treatment for glaucoma and synthesized progesterine and testosterone, to name two.

Despite his genius, Dr. Julian had a difficult time getting into school; after he managed to finish school at the head of his class, he had a hard time finding a job.

Dr. Julian was born in 1899 in Montgomery, Alabama, only two generations removed from slaves. (His grandfather, who had been a slave, lost two fingers when his captors realized that he could write.) Because of his race, Julian attended a private school with poorer resources than the local white-only schools. When he was admitted to De Paw Unitersity, he was admitted as a "sub-freshman" and had to take high school calsses alongside his college classes. Four years later, in 1920, he graduated valedictorian of his class.

Though he finished his program at the top of his class, Dr. Julian's attempts to enter graduate school were denied because of his race. He took a position at Fisk University, a Historically Black College in Nashville; after two years teaching, he was awarded a fellowship to earn his masters degree at Harvard. Again, though his studies were successful at Harvard, he was denied the chance to continue his work because of his race.

This pattern would continue for much of his career as a chemist. After Harvard, he taught at West Virginia College for Negroes, then Howard University. He was awarded a fellowship to earn his Ph.D. at the University of Vienna, then returned as a professor to Howard and then De Pauw, but he couldn't get a tenured position. He turned to private industry and, after being rejected for a position at Appleton, Wisconsin-based Institute of Paper Chemistry because of his race, he took a position at Glidden Company. After acheiving success and recognition at Glidden, he founded his own Julian Laboratories, which he sold to Smith, Kline, and French in 1964. Though retired, he continued to publish and direct projects until his death in 1975.

Dr. Julian's accomplishments stand on their own, but the challenges he faced because of his race -- the professional challenges, being denied entry into professional conferences at segregated halls, a 1950 arson attack of his home, to name a few -- are truly phenominal. Recognition of this has come slowly, but his fascinating life is finally being celebrated. After being denied admission into the National Inventors Hall of Fame four consecutive years, he was inducted in 1990.

Most of the information in this post came from James Michael Brodie's Created Equal: The Lives and Ideas of Black American Innovators, which you can find at the Main Library's (fellow blogger) African American Center and a few other locations.

Julian was also the subject of a recent PBS movie Percy Julian: Forgotten Genius, also available from the library.