Dr. Percy L. Julian— Chemist · Humanitarian · 1899–1975
Denied labs and jobs for the color of his skin, he became one of history's great chemists anyway.
Julian was the first to completely synthesize physostigmine, then found a way to make cortisone and hormones from soybeans — dropping the price from hundreds of dollars a drop to pennies, and bringing arthritis relief to millions.
First complete synthesis of physostigmine, 1935 · 88 U.S. patents.