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Forgotten Genius, a NOVA program on PBS
(aired Feb. 6, 2007; view online at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/julian/) Reviewed by Doug Storm, ACS Senior Account Manager and LiveWire Features Editor
Percy Julian, the brilliant organic chemist whose complete synthesis of physostigmine in 1935 was named by ACS in 1999 as one of the top twenty-five achievements in chemistry of the 20th century, was asked late in life “what were his greatest nightmares from his childhood in the South?” “White folks and rattlesnakes,” was his answer.
Forgotten Genius, the NOVA documentary about Julian’s life and career, puts this quote in its proper context, and it is most instructive as the lens through which the program’s creators view this “forgotten genius.” As a 12-year-old boy picking berries in his grandfather’s woods, Julian came upon the hanging corpse of a black man who had been lynched. “He didn’t look like a criminal; he just looked like a scared boy.” On the way back home, he came across a rattlesnake and killed it. “For years afterward, every time I saw a white man, I saw the contours of a rattlesnake on his face.”
From this point on, the documentary sets the same scene again and again: Julian encounters what to most people would be insurmountable obstacles born of often virulent racial prejudice. With indomitable spirit and will, he overcomes each and every one. He sees the specter of the hanged man and kills the figurative snake through his chemistry genius.
Julian’s achievements in chemistry were the stuff of Nobel Prizes and endowed chairs at major research institutions. That he was an African American in the first half of the 20th century makes his achievements even more stunning: All of his work was done under the pressure of racist expectations and perceptions.
Imagine having beaten a world-renowned chemist at Oxford University to the first complete synthesis of a natural compound (physostigmine) while working with only his assistant Josef Pikl in a lab at DePauw University, a small liberal arts college in Indiana. What an amazing and bold success—career- and reputation-making beyond doubt! He and Pikl were soon invited to interview for positions at DuPont. After the interview, Pikl was offered a job, and Julian, as the documentary’s narrator informs us, “was offered only an apology. ‘We didn’t know you were a Negro.’” Pikl accepted the offer at Julian’s insistence.
Julian found his place as director of research at Glidden in Chicago, where he worked to isolate soy protein. His position was unheard of for an African American in 1936, 10 years before Jackie Robinson “broke the color barrier” in America. Julian not only succeeded at the tasks set for him by Glidden; he also worked on his own projects in his “spare” time. He soon discovered how to convert stigmasterol the plant steroid in soybeans into progesterone. He was named Chicagoan of the year; he moved with his wife and two children to the affluent suburb of Oak Park; he was profiled in Reader’s Digest. But the rattlesnake found him, too. In the 1940s, arsonists attempted to burn down his house, and later the house was bombed with dynamite.
More successes and disappointments followed. Julian was integral in discovering an inexpensive plant-based method to synthesize cortisone (soy again!). But Glidden, for which Julian had registered 109 patents, divested the company of the steroid business. Julian left to open his own lab in Franklin Park, and many of the Glidden chemists went with him. He eventually became one of the wealthiest black businessmen in America.
Yet Julian still feared that this success would all be taken away. He would implore white colleagues to escort him to major science conferences because he believed that he would be thrown out because of his skin color. In the 1960s and early ’70s, the scientific and academic communities tried to pay penance to Julian by granting him honorary degrees (18) and inducting him into the National Academies of Science (only the second African American at the time). He died in April 1975 at the age of 76.
The NOVA documentary is enlightening, as are the many resources available from the PBS website. They include links to highlights of Julian’s career, memories recounted by people who knew him, audio excerpts from a 1965 speech, a teacher’s guide, and a library resource kit.
In addition, watching the show online allows the viewer a unique learning experience. Because the program is structured in 8- to 10-minute chapters that correspond to periods of Julian’s life, the viewer can pause between chapters to research the story more fully or simply consider the material that has come before.
Much of the voice-over narration (eloquently done by Courtney B. Vance) is culled from an article called “Julian the Trailblazer” by Peter Tyson. The dramatizations, which feature Ruben Santiago-Hudson as Julian, are interspersed with period footage, still shots of Julian at work, and commentary from colleagues at Julian Labs, Lehigh and Brandeis Universities, and the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.
The considerable role that ACS played in the making and funding of this documentary should be noted. Read about its contributions in Percy Julian, the Movie, an article that appeared in C&EN.
Read even more about The Life and Science of Percy Julian at the Chemical Heritage Foundation website or in Luminaries of the Chemical Sciences, by James F. Ryan (Washington, DC: American Chemical Society, 2002).
Resources for Further Study
Sterols. XVI.1 Cortisone and Analogs. Part 2. 17,21-Dihydroxy-4-pregnene-3,12,20-trione
Percy L. Julian, Chappelle C. Cochrane, Arthur Magnani, William J. Karpel J. Am. Chem. Soc.; 1956; 78(13); 3153-3158.
Access: First Page Full: PDF(817k)
Sterols. XV.1 Cortisone and Analogs. Part 1. 16-Hydroxy and 16,17-Epoxy Analogs of Cortisone
Percy L. Julian, Wayne Cole, Edwin W. Meyer, Bernard M. Regan J. Am. Chem. Soc.; 1955; 4601-4604.
Access: First Page
Full:
PDF
(546k)
Sterols. XII. The Partial Synthesis of 4-Pregnene-17,20,21-triol-3-ones and Reichstein's Substance E1
Percy L. Julian, Edwin W. Meyer, William J. Karpel, Wayne Cole J. Am. Chem. Soc.;
1951; 73(5);
1982-1985.
Access: First Page
Full:
PDF
(579k)
Sterols. XI. 17-Hydroxy-11-desoxycorticosterone (Reichstein's Substance S)
Percy L. Julian, Edwin W. Meyer, William J. Karpel, Isabelle Ryden Waller J. Am. Chem. Soc.;
1950;
72(11);
5145-5147.
Access: First Page
Full:
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(382k)
Sterols. X. 17-Hydroxyprogesterone
Percy L. Julian, Edwin W. Meyer, Isabelle Ryden J. Am. Chem. Soc.;
1950;
72(1);
367-370.
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(499k)
Sterols. IX. The Selective Halogenation and Dehalogenation of Certain Steroids (Part 1)
Percy L. Julian, William J. Karpel J. Am. Chem. Soc.;
1950;
72(1);
362-366.
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(634k)
Additions and Corrections-Sterols. V. The i-Cholesterylamines
Percy Julian, Arthur Magnani, Edwin Meyer, Wayne Cole J. Am. Chem. Soc.;
1949;
71(12);
4163-4163.
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(118k)
STEROLS. VIII.1 17-HYDROXYPROGESTERONE AND 17-HYDROXY-11-DESOXYCORTICOSTERONE
Percy L. Julian, Edwin W. Meyer, William J. Karpel, Isabelle Ryden J. Am. Chem. Soc.;
1949;
71(10);
3574-3575.
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(234k)
Sterols. VI. 16-Methyltestosterone
Percy L. Julian, Edwin W. Meyer, Helen C. Printy J. Am. Chem. Soc.;
1948;
70(11);
3872-3875.
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(525k)
Sterols. V. The
i
-Cholesterylamines
Percy L. Julian, Arthur Magnani, Edwin W. Meyer, Wayne Cole J. Am. Chem. Soc.;
1948;
70(5);
1834-1837.
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(516k)
Sterols. IV. 20-Pregnenes from
bisnor
-Steroid Acids
Percy L. Julian, Edwin W. Meyer, Helen C. Printy J. Am. Chem. Soc.;
1948;
70(3);
887-892.
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(790k)
Sterols. III. A Method for the Dehalogenation of Steroids
Percy L. Julian, Wayne Cole, Arthur Magnani, Edwin W. Meyer J. Am. Chem. Soc.;
1945;
67(10);
1728-1730.
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(438k)
Sterols. II. Unsaturation at the C
22
-Position and the Behavior of C
20
-Isomeric Carbinols
Percy L. Julian, Wayne Cole, Edwin W. Meyer, R. A. Herness J. Am. Chem. Soc.;
1945;
67(8);
1375-1381.
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(886k)
Sterols. I. A Study of the 22-Ketosteroids1
Wayne Cole, Percy L. Julian J. Am. Chem. Soc.;
1945;
67(8);
1369-1375.
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