1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,960
Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

2
00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:07,000
Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello Again. I'm Eves and you're listening to

3
00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:09,680
Speaker 1: This Day in History Class, a show that drops a

4
00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:14,520
Speaker 1: little bit of history knowledge every day. Today is April eleventh.

5
00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:28,560
Speaker 1: The day was April eleven. Chemist Percy Lavon Julian was born.

6
00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:33,120
Speaker 1: Julian is remembered for synthesizing drugs and chemicals used to

7
00:00:33,159 --> 00:00:37,040
Speaker 1: treat people with glaucoma and arthritis. His work also led

8
00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:40,800
Speaker 1: to the mass production of testosterone and progesterone, as well

9
00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:44,040
Speaker 1: as the development of a firefighting foam called aerial phone.

10
00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:48,720
Speaker 1: Julian was born in Montgomery, Alabama. He was the oldest

11
00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:52,000
Speaker 1: of six children. His father was a railway clerk and

12
00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:55,800
Speaker 1: his mother was a teacher. Julian's father was strict and

13
00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:59,400
Speaker 1: had high expectations of his children, all of whom went

14
00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:03,520
Speaker 1: on to earn university degrees. Julian went to the State

15
00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:06,200
Speaker 1: Normal School, graduating at the top of his class in

16
00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:11,360
Speaker 1: nineteen sixteen. He then enrolled at DePaul University in Greencastle, Indiana.

17
00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:15,679
Speaker 1: In nineteen twenty. He graduated as valedictorian with a degree

18
00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:20,200
Speaker 1: in chemistry. Julian wanted to go to graduate school, but

19
00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:23,440
Speaker 1: his advisers suggested that he get a job teaching at

20
00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:25,760
Speaker 1: a black school in the South, where he would not

21
00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:29,520
Speaker 1: need a doctorate. His father also wanted him to become

22
00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:33,120
Speaker 1: a physician, since he feared that Julian would have difficulties

23
00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:35,880
Speaker 1: finding work in the chemistry field because of his race.

24
00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:39,200
Speaker 1: But Julian wanted to stay in his field, so he

25
00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:42,760
Speaker 1: took a job teaching chemistry at Fisk University, a black

26
00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:47,240
Speaker 1: college in Nashville, Tennessee. After teaching there for two years,

27
00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:50,320
Speaker 1: he was awarded a fellowship in chemistry to study at

28
00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:54,400
Speaker 1: Harvard University. He got his master's degree in organic chemistry

29
00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:59,120
Speaker 1: from Harvard in ninete. Though he had good grades, Harvard

30
00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:01,680
Speaker 1: did not offer him the opportunity to serve as a

31
00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:05,920
Speaker 1: teaching assistant since southern white students might not accept him

32
00:02:05,960 --> 00:02:08,600
Speaker 1: as a teacher, so he stayed at Harvard for the

33
00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:12,480
Speaker 1: next several years, taking on various research fellowships and small

34
00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:17,200
Speaker 1: jobs to make money. In he took a teaching position

35
00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:20,200
Speaker 1: at West Virginia State College, but by the next year

36
00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:22,960
Speaker 1: he had moved on to hit the chemistry department at

37
00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:27,560
Speaker 1: Howard University in Washington, d C. While at Howard, Julian

38
00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:31,120
Speaker 1: found a renewed interest in producing synthetic materials that could

39
00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:34,600
Speaker 1: help patients dealing with illnesses. He got a grant from

40
00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:37,680
Speaker 1: the General Education Board to study with the chemist Ernst

41
00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:42,720
Speaker 1: Spit at the University of Vienna in Austria. Julian, like Spait,

42
00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:46,320
Speaker 1: was interested in the ways that nature turned simple organic

43
00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:51,000
Speaker 1: compounds into complex substances. He worked on finding a synthetic

44
00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:54,799
Speaker 1: material that could replace soybeans, which were then being used

45
00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:59,320
Speaker 1: to manufacture drugs like Pisa stigmine. Faisa stigmine was used

46
00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:03,239
Speaker 1: to treat glout comma. Julian got his doctorate from the

47
00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:07,160
Speaker 1: University of Vienna in nineteen thirty one. At that point

48
00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:11,160
Speaker 1: he returned to Howard University, then went to DePaul University

49
00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:15,160
Speaker 1: as a research fellow and teacher of organic chemistry. In

50
00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:18,480
Speaker 1: ninety five, he married his wife, Ana Rosale, and they

51
00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:22,280
Speaker 1: later had two children together. That same year, Julian and

52
00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:26,000
Speaker 1: Dr Joseph Peekle, an associate of his from Vienna, succeeded

53
00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:29,959
Speaker 1: in developing a synthetic chemical similar to natural phisis digmine.

54
00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:34,280
Speaker 1: Depaus Dean recommended that Julian be appointed as head of

55
00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:37,880
Speaker 1: the chemistry department, but the faculty did not approve this,

56
00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:43,200
Speaker 1: calling his appointment inadvisable. Despite this, the Glitten Company, a

57
00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:46,920
Speaker 1: manufacturer of paint, varnish and chemicals, offered him a position

58
00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:50,240
Speaker 1: as director of Research and chief chemist. He took it

59
00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:54,040
Speaker 1: and worked there until nineteen fifty three. At glint In,

60
00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:57,320
Speaker 1: his work with soybean proteins contributed to the creation of

61
00:03:57,400 --> 00:04:01,120
Speaker 1: a firefighting solution called aerial foam. His work with soybeans

62
00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:04,640
Speaker 1: also led to the synthesis of the sex hormones progesterone

63
00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:08,000
Speaker 1: and testosterone, which led to an increase in the world's

64
00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:11,200
Speaker 1: supply of them and reduced the cost of hormone treatments.

65
00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:16,560
Speaker 1: While at Glitten, Julian also synthesized cortisone from soybeans, steriles,

66
00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:21,560
Speaker 1: or solid alcohols. Cortisone helps treat rheumatoid arthritis and other

67
00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:26,760
Speaker 1: inflammatory diseases. Natural cortisone was extremely expensive to produce, as

68
00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:31,160
Speaker 1: it required the extraction of animal bile, but Julian synthesized

69
00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:36,120
Speaker 1: cortisone made treatment more accessible to patients. After leaving Gliten,

70
00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:39,640
Speaker 1: he started his own company, Julian Laboratories, in Chicago and

71
00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:43,640
Speaker 1: Mexico City. He soon began making drugs synthesized from wild

72
00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:47,400
Speaker 1: Mexican yams. Over the years, Julian got more than one

73
00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:51,160
Speaker 1: and thirty chemical patents. In the last years of his life,

74
00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:53,400
Speaker 1: he also dedicated a lot of his time to the

75
00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:56,680
Speaker 1: civil rights movement. He continued to work in the lab

76
00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:02,159
Speaker 1: until his death in nineteen I'm Eve Stepcote and hopefully

77
00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:04,560
Speaker 1: you know a little more about history today than you

78
00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:07,720
Speaker 1: did yesterday. And if you haven't gotten your fill of

79
00:05:07,839 --> 00:05:11,040
Speaker 1: history after today's episode, you can find us on social

80
00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:15,000
Speaker 1: media at t d i h C Podcast and if

81
00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:17,440
Speaker 1: you have any questions or comments, you can send us

82
00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:21,960
Speaker 1: a note via email at this Day at iHeartMedia dot com.

83
00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:25,200
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening to the show and we'll see

84
00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:33,000
Speaker 1: you tomorrow. For more podcasts from I Heeart Radio, visit

85
00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:35,680
Speaker 1: the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

86
00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:36,599
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.