Percy Lavon Julian

Julian was denied a high school education, but took high school level evening courses along with university.
He graduated first in his class in 1920 with a chemistry major from DePauw University, Indiana, and a PhD from the University of Vienna, Austria, in 1931.
Julian accomplished the first total synthesis of physostigmine from calabar bean, an alkaloid to treat glaucoma.
He invented a soybean product, Aero-Foam, used to extinguish oil and gas fires in WWII.
Julian developed the mass scale production of stigmasterol, a progesterone precursor, and of hydrocortisone and its derivatives.

Text: ACS.org –Percy L. Julian and the Synthesis of Physostigmine[online]. Available at: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/julian.html [Accessed: 09/03/2020]

Image: © Science History Institute

Author: Anthonia Oluwatuyi (2020) LJMU Student

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