ERNEST EVERETT JUST

Ernest Everett Just was an African American biologist and educator best known for his pioneering work in the physiology of development, especially in fertilization. He was born on August 14,1883, in South Carolina. He studied at Kimball Union Academy in New Hampshire before enrolling at Dartmouth College. His interest in biology grew in college after reading a paper on fertilization and egg development. He was an excellent student earning the highest grades in Greek during his freshman year, and was then selected as a Rufus Choate scholar for two years. He graduated as the sole magna cum laude student in 1907, along with receiving honors in botany, sociology and history.

Just worked as a teacher and researcher at the traditionally all-black Howard University. Later, in 1909, he worked in research at Woods Hole Marine Biology Laboratory in Massachusetts. Soon he obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Chicago, where he studies experimental embryology and graduated magna cum laude. Just also pioneered many areas including fertilization, experimental parthenogenesis, hydration, cell division, dehydration in living cells and ultraviolet carcinogenic radiation effects on cells. He won the NAACP’s first Spingarn Medial for outstanding achievement by a black American. From 1920-1931, he was a Julius Rosenwald Fellow in Biology of the National Research Council- a position that provided hi the chance to work in Europe when racial discrimination hindered his opportunities in the United states.

Ernest Just died of pancreatic cancer in Washington, D.C., on October 27, 1941.