On 11 April 1899, the future chemist Percy L. Julian was born in Montgomery, Alabama. Despite discrimination as an African American, he studied chemistry at DePauw University and Harvard University. From 1929 he continued his studies – probably as the first African American student – at the University of Vienna with chemist Ernst Späth. He received his doctorate in 1931. Back in the United States, he acquire great merits in the field of natural products chemistry, such as the synthetic production of physostigmine and the steroid hydrocortisone. He founded two successful research companies and was also involved in the civil rights movement of African Americans.
