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Percy Julian honored among ‘inventors who changed world’
An historic DePauw University figure is being honored as part of Alabama’s bicentennial observance.
Percy Lavon Julian, pioneering chemist and inventor and 1920 graduate of DePauw, is listed in an Alabama newspaper’s feature among “Five inventors who changed the world.”
The piece is timed to preview Saturday’s grand finale of Alabama’s bicentennial celebration.
“Born a grandson of a slave in Montgomery, Julian fought through Jim Crow restrictions to graduate from DePauw University in Indiana, earn a master’s from Harvard University, and achieve a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Vienna,” Brad Harper writes for the Montgomery Advertiser.
“His work led to the synthesis of cortisone, used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, among other breakthroughs. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1990,” the article adds.
The founder of research laboratories in the United States, Mexico and Guatemala, Julian was a member of the DePauw Board of Trustees, and was the first recipient of the university’s McNaughton Medal for meritorious public service. He also received an honorary degree from his alma mater in 1947.
Julian died April 19, 1975 in Waukegan, Ill.
The university’s Percy Lavon Julian Science and Mathematics Center -- where a bust of Dr. Julian greets visitors -- stands as a tribute to the great chemist.
Meanwhile, he is also honored locally as a street that runs past both Greencastle High School and Greencastle Middle School on the city’s East Side is known as Percy Julian Drive.
Among his other honors, the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp in Dr. Julian’s honor during Black History Month in 1993.
Joining Julian among Alabama’s the five inventors crediting with helping change the world are:
• Mary Anderson, who received a patent for the windshield wiper in 1903 after witnessing a New York trolley driver have trouble seeing during a rainstorm.
• George F. Kirchoff, who as a laid-off Birmingham rocket engineer, created the airbag and used himself as a test subject.
• Waldo Semon, who was credited with creating 5,000 synthetic rubber compounds, including vinyl and plasticized PVC.
• Jimmy Wales, the co-creator of Wikipedia, who launched the website in January 2001 and now can boast of at least 5,983,412 articles, 18 billion page visits and 500 million unique visitors per month.