Catalyzing Chemists — African Americans in the Chemical Sciences
#Chemists; #Alchemists; # AfricanAmericanChemists
Washington/Canadian-Media: Being a vital part of society for hundreds of years, chemists with alchemists coming before them have contributed to unraveling the curiosity of the people about the elements and their fascinating properties to the understanding and betterment of our world.
This article by the Library of Congress (LoC) highlights African American chemists Alice Ball, Norbert Rillieux, Marie Maynard Daly, and Percy Julius.
Growing up in Seattle, Alice Ball (1892–1916) earned two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Washington, one for pharmaceutical chemistry and one for pharmacy. After relocating to Hawaii, she became the first African American and woman to earn a master’s degree in chemistry at the College of Hawaii (known today as the University of Hawaii) and became the first female chemistry instructor at the University at the age of 23. She was also responsible for creating an injectable cure for leprosy patients by isolating the ethyl esters from the oil of Hydnocarpus wightianus, or chaulmoogra tree, seeds. Her work led to a treatment that was used until the 1940s and saved thousands of lives.
Born in New Orleans and considered to be one of the earliest chemical engineers, Norbert Rillieux (1806–1894), became an instructor of applied mechanics at L’École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, now part of Université Paris-Saclay, France.
Rillieux began researching a more efficient sugar refining process and moved back to Louisiana at the prospect of being the head engineer at a new sugar refinery and completed his research and was granted Patent No. US4879 in 1846, which explained his “new and useful Improvements in the Method of Heating, Evaporating, and Cooling Liquids, especially intended for the manufacture of sugar.” This innovation allowed for more efficient production and the use of less fuel. Fun fact: Rillieux is a cousin of Edgar Degas, the French impressionist painter.
Elevation of the sugar-refining apparatus invented by Rillieux, Patent №4879.
Marie Maynard Daly (1921–2003), born and raised in the borough of Queens, New York, earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Queens College and her master’s in chemistry from New York University. Based on her dissertation at Columbia University, “A Study of the Products Formed by the Action of Pancreatic Amylase on Corn Starch,” she became the first African American woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry.
Marie Maynard Daly in her lab. From the Albert Einstein College of Medicine Archives. Ted Burrows, photographer.
Daly taught chemistry at Howard University, performed research on the metabolism of nucleic components at the Rockefeller Institute, and taught biochemistry at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, ultimately becoming a professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She was a prolific author on wide-ranging subjects and was published in highly regarded journals like the Journal of General Physiology, the Journal of Experimental Medicine, and the Journal of Clinical Investigation. These accomplishments are incredible, and even more so, she instituted a scholarship program in her parents’ name at Queens College for minority students eager to study science.
Well-known for his landmark synthesis of physostigmine, a compound that to this day is used in the treatment of glaucoma, Percy Julian (1899–1975) and his findings co-authored by Josef Pikl appeared in the Journal of the American Chemical Society v.57, no. 4.
Julian made enormous contributions to the field of medicinal chemistry and millions of people have benefitted from the research and brought him over 100 patents, including one for margarine!
Doing incredible work against just as incredible odds, these four Americans contributed not only to this country but the world. The following list of Internet and print resources is a good place to start learning more about them and their discoveries, as well as other amazing African American chemists.
- American Chemical Society: ACS Honors African Americans in the Chemical Sciences
- Biography: Famous Black Scientists
- Chemical & Engineering News: Black chemists you should know about
- Interesting Engineer: 31 Highly Influential African American Scientists
- PLOS Blogs: Absolutely Maybe: Black History Month: Chemists’ Powerful Stories & the Sociologist Who Studied Them
- African American Firsts in Science and Technology by Raymond B. Webster (1999)
- African American Women Chemists by Jeannette Brown (2012)
- African American Women Chemists in the Modern Era by Jeannette Brown (2018)
- Henry Aaron Hill Papers, 1867–1979. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress
- Life Has Been a Crystalline State and More: An Autobiography by Carl Peterson (1990)
- Percy Lavon Julian: Pioneering Chemist by Darlene R. Stille (2009)What a Time to Live: The Autobiography of James B. Hamilton by James B. Hamilton (1995)