Percy Lavon Julian
Chemist, Organization founder
1899 – 1975
Who was Percy Lavon Julian?
Percy Lavon Julian was an American research chemist and a pioneer in the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants. He was the first to synthesize the natural product physostigmine, and a pioneer in the industrial large-scale chemical synthesis of the human hormones progesterone and testosterone from plant sterols such as stigmasterol and sitosterol. His work laid the foundation for the steroid drug industry's production of cortisone, other corticosteroids, and birth control pills.
He later started his own company to synthesize steroid intermediates from the wild Mexican yam. His work helped greatly reduce the cost of steroid intermediates to large multinational pharmaceutical companies, helping to significantly expand the use of several important drugs.
Julian received more than 130 chemical patents. He was one of the first African-Americans to receive a doctorate in chemistry. He was the first African-American chemist inducted into the National Academy of Sciences, and the second African-American scientist inducted from any field.
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- Born
- Apr 11, 1899
Montgomery - Also known as
- Джулиан, Перси
- Parents
- Spouses
- Anna Roselle Johnson
(1935/12/24 - 1975/04/19)
- Anna Roselle Johnson
- Children
- Ethnicity
- African American
- Nationality
- United States of America
- Profession
- Education
- Master's Degree, Harvard University
(1922 - 1923) - Bachelor's degree, DePauw University
(1916 - 1920) - PhD, University of Vienna
Chemistry
(1929 - 1931)
- Master's Degree, Harvard University
- Employment
- Instructor, Fisk University
- Instructor, Howard University
- DePauw University
(1932 - )
- Lived in
- Oak Park
- Montgomery
- Greencastle
- Died
- Apr 19, 1975
Waukegan
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
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"Percy Lavon Julian." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/percy_julian>.
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