Percy Julian – Chemist
by
John C Abercrombie
Percy Julian faced some of the most challenging difficulties to rise to heights of the chemical profession. He received more than 130 patents and is one of the first Blacks to receive a Ph.D. in chemistry in America and one of the first to be inducted into the prestigious National Academy of Sciences.
Julian’s research led to chemical synthesis of drugs to treat glaucoma, arthritis and even infertility. While blatant racism presented many challenges, he is regarded as one of the most influential chemists in American history!
Percy Lavon Julian was the first child born to James and Elizabeth Julian. Both were college graduates. His father was employed by the US Post Office and his mother was a schoolteacher.
His parents were fortunate to get a college education as during this time, most Blacks were only allowed to go to school up to the 8th grade in the public-school systems.
The effects of the Jim Crow Laws were in full swing during Percy’s youth and one day while walking in the woods he found the lynched body of a Black man hanging from a tree. Blacks were lynched on the most minor of charges and in a country that prides itself on justice and equality for all, without benefit of a trial.
In many cases the Lynchings were public and a source of entertainment for White families. As barbaric as the practice was, there were industries that sold post cards and other gruesome artifacts of the Lynchings. The presence of the grotesque bodies was intended to be a lesson to other Blacks who would seek freedom or equality.
The Julian children were driven towards higher education by their parents. Julian attended DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. As were most Blacks who attended college during these times, he was not allowed to live in a college dormitory, nor eat in the college cafeteria.
Although enrolled in college, it took several days before he found a place in town that would even serve him a meal. He later found a fraternity where he worked, firing the boiler and doing other odd jobs in exchange for a room in the basement and meals.
Because of the limited education provided by the public schools, Julian found himself behind the other students, but not one to accept the fate, he also took remedial classes at the local high school to catch up. His dedication paid off.
Despite the difficulties he encountered at DePauw, he graduated as a member of Phi Beta Kappa and class valedictorian in 1920. His father moved the entire family to Greencastle so ALL his children could attend DePauw.
After graduating from DePauw, Julian attempted to obtain a doctorate in chemistry, but learned that it was extremely difficult to do because many schools would not accept Blacks. He then obtained a position at Fisk University an HBCU (Historically Black College and University) in Nashville, Tennessee.
In 1923 he received an Austin Fellowship in Chemistry where he could obtain his M.S. at Harvard. He could have continued at Harvard to obtain his Ph.D.; however, the administration was worried that White students may resent being taught by a Black. It was common practice that doctoral students would perform teaching duties.
Again, we see discrimination practiced not because students did not want to be taught by a Black, but the perception that they MAY not. It is this type of cowering under to perceptions that have prevented many talented and worthy Blacks from being allowed the opportunity to prove their merit.
Relying on the perception that students may not accept being taught by a Black, Harvard withdrew his teaching assistantship, making it impossible for him to finish his Ph.D. at Harvard. Decisions such as this, making assumptions, often cost Blacks opportunities that they would otherwise qualify for.
Unable to complete his Ph.D. he accepted a position at Howard University another HBCU and in 1929, received a fellowship to continue his graduate work at the University of Vienna. It is a sad commentary on life in the United States that many of the greatest Black minds were forced to go to other countries to get what others come to this Country to obtain; the opportunity to pursue a dream.
Julian obtained his Ph.D. in 1931.
Julian studied under one of the most respected teachers Ernst Spath who considered him one of his most impressive students. Julian found many of the conditions he had been seeking in this country, freedom from racial prejudices and the ability to participate in intellectual social gatherings as well as acceptance among his peers.
Julian returned to Howard and after becoming embroiled in office politics, was offered a teaching position in Organic Chemistry at DePauw. Julian helped his friend from the University of Vienna come to DePauw to work with him. Together they synthesized physostigmine an extremely important step forward in pharmaceutical manufacture. He was the first pioneer to succeed at the large-scale chemical synthesis of progesterone and testosterone from plant sterols such as stigmasterol ad sitosterol. This work was the foundation of the production of cortisone and birth control pills.
It was Julian’s work like this that revolutionized the medical industry.
In 1936, Julian was denied a professorship because of his race. This type of racism was blatant and extended into private industry. The American conglomerate E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company commonly referred to as DuPont had invited Julian and his long-time friend and organic chemist an interview. They offered a job to Josef Pikl but apologized to Julian with the often-used excuse ‘they were “unaware he was a Negro”’.
Still in need of employment he applied to the Institute of Paper Chemistry in Appleton, Wisconsin. Here he ran into a situation that is not often talked about. Appleton was a sundown town.
Sundown towns were also called “sunset or gray towns. Here all-White municipalities or neighborhoods excluded non-White people by using discriminatory laws, intimidation and violence. The term was used because of signs that were openly posted that “Colored People” had to leave town by Sundown. Appleton stated, “No Negro should be bed or boarded overnight in Appleton.”
Julian was doing research on soybean products and wrote the Glidden Company, a supplier of soybean oil. He was contacted by W. J. O’Brien a Glidden vice-president. He was impressed with Julian’s work. O’Brien became familiar with the fact that Julian was fluent in German, after all, he got his Ph.D. from the University of Vienna and Glidden had just purchased a solvent extraction plant from Germany for the extraction of vegetable oil from soybeans to use in the manufacture of paints.
He designed and supervised the construction of the world’s first plant to produce soy protein that could be used to replace the more expensive casein in the production of industrial coatings. It could also be used in the manufacture of water-based paints. Up to this time, most paint was oil based.
Glidden also supplied an isolated soy protein to what is now Kidde Fire Fighting. The product was used to develop Aer-O-Foam, a mixture that could be converted into a foam using aerating nozzles. This was used to smother oil and gasoline fires aboard ships and aircraft carriers. It saved thousands of sailors and airmen during the war. This product led to the 1947 award of the Spingarn Medal to Julian. This is the highest award of the NAACP.
Many uses were being discovered for progesterone, estrogen, testosterone, however they were available in extremely small quantities because they were being extracted from the spinal cords of animals and it was taking hundreds of pounds of this limited supply. Julian changed the landscape when he began isolating stigmasterol and sitosterol from soybean oil using a technique that he invented and patented.
In 1940, Julian was able to produce 100 pounds of soy sterols daily. They were easily converted into commercial quantities of the female hormone progesterone. The first pound was valued at over $500,000 in today’s currency and was transported by armored car! Production of other hormones soon followed.
His work made possible the production of these hormones on a larger industrial scale, with the potential of reducing the cost of treating hormonal deficiencies. Julian and his co-workers obtained patents for Glidden on key processes for the preparation of progesterone and testosterone from soybean plant sterols.
Product patents held by a former cartel of European pharmaceutical companies had prevented a significant reduction in wholesale and retail prices for clinical use of these hormones in the 1940s. He saved many lives with this discovery.
In 1949, cortisone was announced as a dramatic improvement in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. It was being produced using a complex synthesis starting with deoxycholic acid derived from cattle bile. In 1950, Julian had developed a synthesis using pregnenolone derived from the soybean.
Despite the many successes and profitability in the production of drugs that were in high demand, making them available to the people who needed them at reasonable costs, the ugly head of racism was always present in the life of successful Blacks and Julian was no exception.
Julian moved his family to the suburb of Oak Park, becoming the first Black family to live there. On Thanksgiving Day, 1950, before they moved in, the house was fire-bombed. In 1951, the house was attacked with dynamite.
In 1953, Julian founded Julian Laboratories and staffed it with many leading Blacks and women with whom he was familiar. He invested heavily using his own money as banks were reluctant to do business with Black owners.
Julian was always mindful of those who were the end users of his products and continually worked to lower prices rather than raise profits. To his credit, when they were barely breaking even and chemists found a way to quadruple yield, rather than making a killing, he lowered the price of his product.
In 1961, he sold the company. Mexican facilities were purchased by Smith Kline and the Guatemala plant was purchased by Upjohn.
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Forgotten Genius: The Life and Accomplishment of Percy Julian – WTTW and NOVA Community Conversation
On April 15, 2021, WTTW & NOVA hosted a screening and panel discussion of the PBS NOVA documentary, “Forgotten Genius,” about the life and accomplishments of Percy Julian. The grandson of Alabama slaves, Percy Julian met with every possible barrier in a deeply segregated America. He was a man of genius, devotion, and determination. As a black man he was also an outsider, fighting to make a place for himself in a profession and country divided by bigotry—a man who would eventually find freedom in the laboratory. By the time of his death, Julian had risen to the highest levels of scientific and personal achievement, overcoming countless obstacles to become a world-class scientist, a self-made millionaire, and a civil-rights pioneer.
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Forgotten Genius: The Life and Accomplishment of Percy Julian – WTTW and NOVA Community Conversation
On April 15, 2021, WTTW & NOVA hosted a screening and panel discussion of the PBS NOVA documentary, “Forgotten Genius,” about the life and accomplishments of Percy Julian. The grandson of Alabama slaves, Percy Julian met with every possible barrier in a deeply segregated America. He was a man of genius, devotion, and determination. As a black man he was also an outsider, fighting to make a place for himself in a profession and country divided by bigotry—a man who would eventually find freedom in the laboratory. By the time of his death, Julian had risen to the highest levels of scientific and personal achievement, overcoming countless obstacles to become a world-class scientist, a self-made millionaire, and a civil-rights pioneer.
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We see in the life of Percy Julian a great chemist. Although it turned out well, we force some of our best minds (regardless of race, gender or other factors) out of the country or place other obstacles in the path. The posts focus on those who have successfully negotiated them, but why do we place obstacles in the way when we all benefit?