Dr. Julian was a member of the Chicago Section from the time he moved to Chicago to head the Glidden Central Research Labs in 1936 until he died in 1975. Although he was never a Section officer, he was certainly a loyal member. His achievements and contributions brought great acclaim and credit to the Chicago area and the nation as a whole. There is not enough space in this edition to do justice to him for his great achievements in the laboratory as a scientist, in his civic support for his community, and as a successful entrepreneur.

Let me briefly give some of the highlights of Dr. Julian's life. He was born on April 11, 1899 in Montgomery, Ala. In 1916 he came to Greencastle, Indiana to enroll at DePauw University. He had to take remedial coursework for the first year to make up for the poor schooling he received in Alabama. Nevertheless, he graduated on time in 1920 with Phi Beta Kappa honors. After a year as an instructor at Fisk University, he entered Harvard where he received his M.A. in 1923. After teaching at West Virginia State University, and heading the chemistry department at Howard University, he received a fellowship for study in Europe. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Vienna after study with Dr. Ernst Spa'th.

After failing to receive a job offer from either acadamia or industry, he returned to DePauw as a research associate. Over a period of three years working with undergraduates, he, in collaboration with his colleague, J. Pikl, who returned with him from Europe, published a dozen research papers in JACS, an extraordinary output from an undergraduate institution under any circumstances. Among these papers was the classic 1935 paper, "The Complete Synthesis of Physostigmine(eserine)," JACS, 57 , 755 (1935). This was the paper in which he trumped Sir Robert Robinson, (Chemistry Nobel Laureate, 1947). Robinson and his group had published a series of ten papers on the structure of physostigmine, which is used as a drug for the treatment of glaucoma. Julian and his group at DePauw published conclusive proof that their synthetic material had the same structure as the natural product. His success at DePauw led to a job offer from the Glidden Company, where he served as Director of Research from 1936 to 1954.

It was right around the time that he left DePauw for Glidden's that he married Miss Anna Johnson. The new Mrs. Julian was a scholar in her own right, receiving her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1937. They had two children, Percy. Jr., an attorney in Madison, Wisc, and Faith, who still lives in the family home in Oak Park.

After a very successful career at Gliddens, he left to form his own firm, Julian Laboratories, which ultimately became a part of Smith, Kline and French (now SmithKline Beecham). In 1964, he organized Julian Associates, and the Julian Research Institute, which he headed until his death. During this time, he also served as a consultant to a number of leading pharmaceutical companies.

One of his more notable achievements was to be among the founding trustees of Roosevelt University. Roosevelt was founded to serve as an open and hospitable institution for all who chose to enroll. Although he served on the boards of many schools and institutions during his lifetime, he was most proud of his relationship with Roosevelt.

Dr. Julian was the recipient of many awards, too numerous to mention here. In 1947, he received the NAACP Spingarn Medal; in 1973 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, and received the Proctor Medal of Sigma Xi; in 1993, the Black Heritage Stamp was issued in his honor; in 1998, he was named as one of C&EN's "Top 75 Distinguished Contributors to the Chemical Enterprise" during the 75 years of C&EN's existence. In addition, many schools and laboratories have been named after him. He was elected to the National Inventors Hall of Fame (Akron, Ohio) in 1990. He was cited for the "Preparation of Cortisone," U.S. patent 2,752,339.

Dr. Julian died on April 19, 1975 in Waukegan, Illinois. He has been written about many times over the past several years, most recently in a C&EN cover story, p.9 February 1, 1993. There was also a wonderful memorial tribute in the February, 1976 issue of the "Bulletin," written by Virginia Colton. There is at present no full scale biography of him, but the one of the best accounts of his life and work is by his friend, Dr. Bernhard Witkop in "Biographic Memoirs", National Academy of Sciences, pp223-266, National Academy Press, (1980). There are several websites that have information about him on the internet.

Jim Shoffner