February 6, 2007

PBS aired a 2-hour special in honor of Percy Lavon Julian, an internationally acclaimed synthetic organic chemist, as part of a series including Galileo, Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. A native of Montgomery, Julian attended segregated public schools for only eight years – the maximum allowed to black students – but eventually became the third African-American in history to receive a Ph.D. in chemistry. His research in the field of natural products chemistry resulted in more than 160 publications and 100 patents, including accomplishments in the synthesis of steroids and sex hormones and the production of commercially viable amounts of cortisone. He was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences and the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Research chemist Percy Julian began his career in academia before entering the corporate world in the mid-1930s. His experimentation and guidance over the next three decades earned him such accolades as election to the National Academy of Sciences and the National Inventors Hall of Fame. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of The Birmingham News)

The United States Postal Service honored Alabama-born chemist Percy Julian with the 1993 issuance of a stamp bearing his likeness as part of its Black Heritage Series. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Courtesy of United States Postal Service)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.