HTS professor appears on NOVA documentary

Being one of the most renowned chemists of the twentieth century, Percy Julian had his life and accomplishments recognized in the NOVA presentation "Forgotten Genius." It will tell the story of the first African-American Ph.D. scientist to work in industry as a researcher. An award winning chemist, his career was marked by both breaking the color barrier in science and significant innovations in the area of chemistry.

Willie Pearson, professor at the School of History, Technology and Society, became involved with the NOVA project and was a member of the program's advisory committee. Pearson's research background is in Sociology of Science, which involves the study of the production of Ph.D.'s in science and engineering. He became interested in African Americans in chemistry prior to the 1950's, and last year published a book on African American chemists Ph.D.'s.

"Given my general background in Sociology of Science, I was contacted by NOVA [asking] if I would be willing to serve on an advisory committee. Particularly, to assist them with their proposal to the National Endowment for the Humanities," Pearson said.

On the advisory committee, Pearson partnered with chemists and historians to uncover and contextualize Julian's impact on science, history and society.

"There have been very few writings on Percy Julian, when you consider [he] was a very successful chemist, regardless of his race. He owned his own chemistry company, headquartered in both Chicago and Mexico City, and was a generous philanthropist," Pearson said.

Many of the areas where Julian was successful can still be seen today. He worked with developing the foam used to put out fires and made contributions to the steroid cortisone. Some of his later work also involved using soybeans to create synthetic hormones, including estrogen and testosterone, in industrial sized quantities.

"What was very interesting was that he employed minorities and especially African Americans. During that time, African Americans and other minority groups could not work in scientific jobs. So you can imagine, here he is hiring people with degrees from respectable institutions, and they're getting a chance to do their science," Pearson said.

Julian graduated from DePaul University in Indiana in 1920 as part of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, and received his M.S. from Harvard University in 1923. He would graduate at the top of his class, but ended up pursuing his Ph.D. at the University of Vienna, instead of Harvard, because of discrimination.

"[Julian's] life away from science was interesting, fascinating and beset with challenges. He had to deal with issues of race and racism," Pearson said. Even though Julian garnered success and award for his accomplishments, he was not immune from racial struggle. He had his house firebombed, just because he lived in a white neighborhood.

"One of the problems with finding information on some of the African American scientists is the lack of papers that have been left and locating the information left by other people," Pearson said.

"It's ironic that there has been no formal biography written about [Julian], but there is a lot of stuff written about Booker T. Washington... who didn't have a Ph.D. Here is [Julian] with a Ph.D in chemistry, who published in the main chemistry journals of his time," Pearson said.

"Overall I think [NOVA] did a magnificent job from a technical point of view and from a writing point of view. In the end, the fact that his story is finally being told, after all these years, is just remarkable," Pearson said.