April 11, 2014

Yesterday, on the anniversary of the birth of Samuel Hahnemann, I blogged about Homeopathy. Though Hahnemann's approach has never been scientifically proven, today Google honored another scientist on his birthday, Percy Lavon Julian. who also used plants to cure illnesses while working within the medical profession. Plants used in alternative healing also include Herbalism and Aromatherapy.

Percy Lavon Julian was the first to synthesize the natural product physostigmine, and a pioneer in the industrial large-scale chemical synthesis of the human hormones progesterone and testosterone from plant sterols such as stigmasterol and sitosterol. His work laid the foundation for the steroid drug industry's production of cortisone, other corticosteroids, and birth control pills. Julian received more than 130 chemical patents. He was one of the first African-Americans to receive a doctorate in chemistry. He was the first African-American chemist inducted into the National Academy of Sciences, and the second African-American scientist inducted (behind David Blackwell) from any field.