Percy Lavon Julian Facts
Percy Lavon Julian Facts
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| Interesting Percy Lavon Julian Facts: |
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| Percy Lavon Julian was born in Montgomery, Alabama and was the oldest of six children born to James and Elizabeth Julian. |
| Though his grandfather had been a slave, both of Percy Julian's parents were graduates of Alabama State University. |
| Although education beyond elementary school was unusual for African-American children at that time, all of the Julian children were encouraged to strive for college. |
| Percy Julian attended DePauw University in Indiana but due to race was not allowed to live in the dormitory. |
| He found housing in a boarding house off campus but he was refused meals there. |
| He worked waiting tables and doing odd jobs at a fraternity house which allowed him to sleep in the attic and eat at the house. |
| He graduated from DePauw in 1920 as the valedictorian and earned membership in Phi Beta Kappa. |
| In 1923 he received a fellowship to Harvard where he earned an MS in chemistry. |
| In 1929 a Rockefeller Fellowship allowed him to attend the University of Vienna where he earned his PhD in 1931. |
| In 1932 he was teaching organic chemistry at DePauw University when he helped Joseph Piki, a friend from the University of Vienna, come to the US. |
| By 1935 he and Piki had synthesized physostigmine, a reversible cholinesterase inhibitor. |
| After being refused a professorship at DePauw on racial grounds, he went to work for Glidden in 1936. |
| There he designed and supervised the construction of the world's first plant for the production of industrial, isolated soy protein from soybean meal. |
| Isolated soy protein was used in industrial applications such as glue for plywood and in latex paints. |
| During World War II, Julian's isolated soy protein was sent to Kidde Fire Fighting Company, which used it in Aer-O-Foam. |
| Aer-o-Foam was particularly useful for fighting fires on aircraft carriers and other Navy ships during the war. |
| In 1947 the NAACP awarded Julian the Spingarn Medal for this work. |
| In 1940 Julian began work on synthesis of progesterone, estrogen and testosterone from the plant sterols stigmasterol and sitosterol from soy beans. |
| Previous research on these hormones was hampered by the small quantities available from animal sources. |
| Julian was able to produce 100 pounds of mixed soy sterols a day. |
| Julian obtained patents for the processes of producing progesterone and testosterone from soybean. |
| In December of 1953 Julian left Glidden and founded Julian Laboratories, Inc. |
| In 1961 he sold the company to Smith Kline for $2.3 million dollars. |
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