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Archive 1

Additions

I added both a street and a building to the Legacy section, as well as a link to DePauw's excellent archives. The PBS documentary made quite a stir on this campus, which is what prompted me to see this page in the first place. There are a few other things that aren't mentioned in the article that may be of interest to readers: for example, Julian was on the board of trustees for four universities, including DePauw, near the end of his life. In any case, hope I could help. Archaeo 14:58, 7 February 2007 (UTC)


Family

In addition to a daughter, Faith, Dr. and Mrs. Julian had a son, Percy L. Julian, Jr. Percy L. Julian, Jr. is a prominent attorney in Madison WI.

See the following:

mjryanjd@wi.rr.com 72.128.90.14 04:02, 6 December 2006 (UTC)


I went to Percy Julian Junior High in Oak Park, where we all studied the history of Dr. Julian. Despite being taught the many racial shortcomings of Oak Park, we were never taught that the Julian were "the first colored family" in Oak Park, so I'm doubtful of the veracity of that statement.

According to the current exhibit on the Julians at the DuSable Museum of African-American History, they were the first colored family in Oak Park. Shsilver 23:21, 23 December 2006 (UTC)
Is it appropriate to say "colored?" I was under the impression that term is considered offensive now?165.176.123.2 17:57, 7 February 2007 (UTC)


Dear mjryan@wi.rr.com

165.176.123.2|165.176.123.2

African American or Black are the words to use.

I grew up in Maywood as did my father. His father and grandfather migrated to Maywood from Oak Park / River Forest in the early 1900s. Indeed the black community of the day was centered in that area not Maywood (think Lake St. / Westgate so to the Green line along Harlem and West to River Forest to where the Jewel Food Store is on Lake. The Old Navy on Harlem is on the site of the Old Mt Carmel Church of Oak Park for Colored people (at 1st it was a stable and they worshiped there until they were finally allowed to buy the land to build the church which was burned, rebuilt, burned again) in the mid 1920s). That Church still exists as the Canaan AME Church in Maywood. The community, which got smaller and smaller as it was forced out, migrated to Maywood where Jews and African Americans were at least allowed to live. The last black rooming house located in River Forest along the Metra Rail Lines was demolished in the early 1960s. As you can see the Julian's were not the first African Americans in Oak Park / Fiver Forest. Dr Julian was aware of this and assumed by 1950 s things might be different. Funny thing is they were not. He and his family lived in Maywood for 15 years before moving to Oak Park.

The DuSable Museum is incorrect.

Lennel Grace Maywood Historic Preservation Commission

Comment from Bob O'Brien

The family life of Percy Julian is all garbled in this treatment which otherwise seems fine to me. An approved editor should straighten this out and add citations. Percy did have an affair with a woman which was exposed and later married. this woman was the first black PhD in sociology . Percy is listed as having two children. These are his biological children but Percy and his wife also raised their nephew has their own son. If you search for his wife's name you will find that she was indeed the spouse of a colleague whom Percy later married. You cannot tell this from the Percy biography because all that is given is her name. She is listed as having three children but no details are provided. So Julian is listed with two children and his wife with three children. The third child being the nephew they raised as their own son. If you search for this son which is not footnoted in the wife's listing on Wikipedia and it's not even mentioned in Percy's listing on Wikipedia you'll find his obituary which confirms that he was the nephew raised by the 2 Julian's I'm not going to do this myself because I'm not a confirmed editor but it would be easily carried out by an appropriate editor just from the references given above all of which are available on the internet.

− Bob O'Brien professor emeritus of chemistry Portland State University. I've only recently learned the story of Julian and find it fascinating complete with all the scandals. He would have been an outstanding chemist regardless of whether he was black or white.

1008673745 by 2600:100F:B12B:DA07:391F:FB28:C3ED:A8AA (talk)

Birth Control Pill

While he made an early batch of synthetic estrogen. It was not the first batch of synthetic estrogen, and natural estrogen is not used in BCP because it is not water soluble. The orally active synthetic version used in BCPs was synthesized by others. He is a great steroid chemist, but please do not attribute work to him he was not involved in. If you watched the show, he himself said he was not involved in the BCP. --Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) 03:58, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

The closest quote I see is:

Credit for fermentation process

Upjohn is given credit in this article for developing the microbial process for production of cortisone on an industrial scale, but according to Nova's "Forgotten Genius" show, Julian is given the credit. He may have been working for Upjohn (I forget now), but he deserves credit for this. It's treated as an important achievement in the show, and a turning point in his life, since he left his job (at Glidden? Upjohn?) and went into business in Mexico, where a certain variety of yams grow, which produce more of the percursor Substance S than soybeans. There, he encountered resistance due to racism and the opposition of a large American company, which wasn't corrected until Congress stepped in years afterwards. A man whose life he saved helped him obtain the yams from Guatemala, I think. Before that help arrived, he'd contemplated suicide. D021317c 09:36, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

Oops! I take it back. The transcript is available online at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3402_julian.html and says though Upjohn developed the fermentation process, that led to Julian's decision to go into business. D021317c 09:49, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

Move from "Percy Julian" to "Percy Lavon Julian"

The move of this Wikipedia article (three years after its creation) without discussion on 6 February 2007 from "Percy Julian" to "Percy Lavon Julian" was unwarranted and does not follow WP:NCP guidelines. Most articles about Percy Julian, refer to him as "Percy Julian", some articles refer to him as "Percy L. Julian" (the name he used on his scientific publications). This article should be renamed back to its original title "Percy Julian".

69.208.203.52 00:59, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

GA hold

This article is on hold for these reasons, 7 days are allotted to fix them: 1)expand lead to two paras to better summarize the article. 2)fix ref formats to make consistent, I fixed ref 14 as a sample for you. 3)see if you can find more refs. Rlevse

The ref that is now number 14 (about the $13.5mil) is not in proper format. Fix that and I'll promote it.Rlevse 19:41, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

Dubious statements

These statements appear to be misassumptions generated by watching a NOVA television program dramatization of the life of Percy Julian:

"While at Glidden, his chemical synthesis of human steroids from plant steroid precursors would lay the foundation for the birth control pill and cortisone."

    • This is a direct quote from Nova: "The work of Julian and Marker would lay the foundation for a whole new class of medicines, including the birth control pill and a wonder drug that would soon take the world by storm. Source: [1]. Wikipedia isn't about truth and it isn't a venue for original research, or drawing new conclusions based on synthesizing the research of others.
    • The other quote is: "The results, though, speak for themselves. Julian's work, which centered on re-creating the chemicals found in plants, led directly to the steroids that treat rheumatoid arthritis, and indirectly to the birth control pill. It's a giant legacy, and it deserves to be remembered." Source: [2]
    • If you have a suggestion for how something should be reworded, bring it up here, and have a source for it.
  1. How did Julian lay the foundation for the birth control pill?
  2. How did Julian lay the foundation for cortisone?

"After leaving Glidden he started his own company to compete against Syntex to break their monopoly on synthesizing human steroids from the Mexican yam. His competition reduced the cost of synthetic steroids for patients."

    • "I thought, personally, that that was a good opportunity to recover some profits from the low yields of the previous year. Instead, he dropped the price of this stuff from $4,000 a kilo down to about $400 a kilo. And I couldn't understand why he would do that." Source: [3]
  1. Did a Syntex monopoly on synthesizing steroids from Mexican yams affect the price of steroid drugs for patients?
  2. Did Julian Laboratories alone break a Syntex monopoly on synthesizing steroids from Mexican yams?
  3. Did competition with Syntex by Julian Laboratories reduce the price of steroid drugs for patients?


  • Progesterone price (as an intermediate, in bulk) (1)
    • 1940 $140.00/g - Glidden (Julian) synthesizes 1 lb from stigmasterol from soybean oil, sells it to Upjohn
    • 1943 _$80.00/g - Marker synthesizes 3 kg from diosgenin from cabeza de negro (Dioscorea mexicana), uses 2 kg to found Syntex
    • 1945 _$18.00/g
    • 1947 _$12.00/g
    • 1949 __$3.00/g - Marker discovers barbasco (Dioscorea composita) diosgenin yield is 3 to 5 times higher than cabeza de negro
    • 1951 __$1.75/g
    • 1951 __$0.48/g - July: Syntex accepts 10 ton order from Upjohn (to produce cortisone by fermentation process)
    • 1957 __$0.15/g
    • 1968 __$0.08/g
  • Progesterone price (as a pharmaceutical, wholesale) (2)
    • 1943 $300.00/g
    • 1946 $100.00/g
    • 1951 _$45.00/g
  • Progesterone price (as a pharmaceutical, retail) (2)
    • 1951 _$90.00/g
  1. Gereffi G (1978). Drug firms and dependency in Mexico: the case of the steroid hormone industry. Int Organ. 32(1):237-86.[4]
  2. (May 1951). Mexican hormones. Fortune. 43(5):86-90, 161-2, 166, 168.

68.255.26.37 10:39, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

Phantom references removed

I have reverted back to a stable version devoid of phantom references. Remember the article has passed GA review and is being brought to FA status. Please discuss changes here. --Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) 02:47, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

  • Please explain unwarranted reversion of well-sourced contribution to "Steroids" section of article unjustifiably labeled as "vandalism".
  • Please explain in what way the following are "phantom references":
  1. Applezweig, Norman (1962). Steroid drugs. New York: Blakiston Division, McGraw-Hill, pp. vii-xi, 9-83.
  2. Peterson DH, Murray, HC (Apr 5, 1952). "Microbiological oxygenation of steroids at carbon 11". J Am Chem Soc 74(7):1871-2.
  3. Gibbons, Roy (Sep 30, 1949). "Science gets synthetic key to rare drug; discovery is made in Chicago". Chicago Tribune, p.1.
  4. (Dec 2, 1953). "Julian leaves Glidden; will head own firm". Chicago Tribune, p. C6.
  5. (Jan 6, 1963). "Julian aids mankind with his knowledge". Chicago Tribune, p. 1.
  6. Shurtleff, William; Aoyagi, Akiko (2004). "History of the Glidden Company's Soya Products / Chemurgy Division". The Soy Daily.
If a contribution needs copy-editing for brevity or style (which may well be the case), please comment, but do not summarily delete good faith efforts to improve the accuracy and completeness of the article.
69.208.173.138 05:12, 24 February 2007 (UTC)
You are editing anonymously so I don't know if it is one person or if three people are editing. If I had a clue what you were trying to write I would fix it, but you keep deleting a big chunk of existing text and inserting other text with a phantom reference written as "[1]". MY only choice is to revert back to a stable version. I am going to keep reverting it as vandalism, because the changes the editor is making are vandalizing the article that has already reached Good Article status. Perhaps you should add one bit of new information at a time without deleting chunks of existing text. There are three anon IP addresses editing, so I have no clue if one is yours or all three are yours, or even if you are the person making the changes.

You could discuss the changes here and they can be made by someone with more experience. You may also not be the person introducing the errors, but if you add info after the article is vandalized and don't fix it, your changes will get rolled back with the revision to the stable version. --Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) 21:02, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

I have partially reinstated most of 69.208.173.138's contributions, as they were made in good faith and are apparently a well-sourced expansion upon the existing text. The vandalism was actually added by a different IP, as can be seen from the page history. I may be wrong, but please review the additions, and do not take all anon edits to be vandalism—most of us established WP editors, if I may include myself in this category, were anons once :) Fvasconcellos 22:12, 24 February 2007 (UTC)
It looks perfect now, and the additions are excellent. --Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) 22:59, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

141.149.208.54

Yes, its 141.149.208.54 that keeps vandalizing the article perhaps unintentionally. They delete large blocks of text and keep adding phantom references cutting and pasting their previous errors over and over again. --Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) 15:48, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

Breaking the Syntex monopoly

This Wikipedia article is the only biography of Percy Julian that cites "breaking the Syntex monopoly" as his most important contribution to mankind. This seems to be a misconception inferred from a TV show dramatization of his life. 69.208.201.232 23:32, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

Is there a reason why the three external links to PBS.org were removed? The NOVA program is cited repeatedly, but it still seems useful to have a link to it in the external links section. A link to a short biography from the Science Odyssey web site was also removed. --Pdpinch 16:19, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

GA Sweep Review

Re-reviewing the article on 29 August 2007 to insure that it continues to meet the GA criteria. This article passes, and will be kept listed. There is a minor issue in that, in the lead, it mentions that, "his chemical synthesis of human steroids from plant steroid precursors would lay the foundation for the first birth control pill and cortisone." While the article's 'steroids' subsection discusses this, it doesn't really tie-in to the first birth control pill, and the first birth control bit in the lead is unsourced. So this ought to be fixed. But other than that, I don't see a significant reason to delist this article. Cheers! Dr. Cash 15:32, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

The source for this article's two introductory paragraphs, including the inaccurate and misleading statement:

...his chemical synthesis of human steroids from plant steroid precursors would lay the foundation for the first birth control pill and cortisone.

is cited at the end of the two paragraphs—it is from the February 2007 NOVA television program dramatization of Julian's life:
NOVA Forgotten Genius PBS airdate February 6, 2007 transcript

NARRATOR: Within a year, Julian would face a new challenge: his rival, Russell Marker, had discovered a giant yam in Mexico. It was even richer in steroids than soybeans. In 1944, Marker and two partners formed a company called Syntex to make hormones from the yam. For the rest of the decade, Syntex and Glidden would produce most of the world's supply of artificial sex hormones.

  • In the 1940s, a large U.S. corporation, The Glidden Company, and a small Mexican corporation, Syntex (founded by Russell Marker), were the largest sellers of progesterone in bulk as an intermediate to pharmaceutical companies, but their sales were very limited because the European pharmaceutical companies that produced progesterone from animal sources (and had formed a cartel in the 1930s that cross-licensed their patents to each other) controlled the wholesale and retail pharmaceutical market for progesterone for clinical use.
  • In 1952, Glidden stopped producing progesterone from soybeans, and instead imported progesterone from the small Mexican corporation, Dioysnth (founded by Russell Marker).
  • 1n 1953, Glidden left the steroid hormone business which had for years been relatively unprofitable for Glidden.

NARRATOR: The work of Julian and Marker would lay the foundation for a whole new class of medicines, including the birth control pill and a wonder drug that would soon take the world by storm.

  • Most histories of the Pill devote at least a few paragraphs, and sometimes an entire chapter, to Russell Marker and Syntex because of their important roles in its development.
  • No histories of the Pill even mention in passing Percy Julian because he played no role in its development.
  • Percy Julian made significant contributions to improving processes used in the synthesis of cortisone and other corticosteroids.
  • Russell Marker had left chemistry by the time improved processes were being developed for the synthesis of cortisone and other corticosteroids (though when Upjohn first developed their breakthrough fermentation synthesis of cortisone, Syntex was the only company in the world then able to cost-effectively supply the tons of progesterone needed as input to Upjohn's fermentation process).
Lynn4 22:24, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

Removed

  • "Julian's first major chemical breakthrough resulted in the production of oral contraceptives and steroids for widespread medicinal use. Modern hormonal therapy is made possible by his chemistry."

[1] The above comes from Temple University, but he made a "chemical breakthrough", not a "medical one". "resulted in the production of oral contraceptives and steroids for widespread medicinal use." Syntex had already produced steroids from the Mexican Yam that were being used by Upjohn. The soy sterols were a second pathway, and not an efficient one. He would abandon soy and build a plant to process yams in Mexico to compete directly with Syntex. --Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) 02:22, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

References

  1. ^ http://www.temple.edu/chemistry/main/faculty/Williams/Percy%20Lavon%20Julian%201.htm

Inconsistency in Article

In the intro it says that Dr. Julian was the second African-American to obtain a Ph.D. in chemistry. Later in the article it says that he was the third to do so (and the article then gives the names of the first two to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry). I have no idea which is correct. Could someone clarify please?134.243.211.185 (talk) 23:45, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Good point, the sources don't solve the problem, one of the two references for the second entry says nothing about the matter and the other is no longer available. Since the second names names, it's probably the right one but I don't know for sure. I'm changing the language to "one of the first" until we can get verification on sequence.--Doug.(talk • contribs) 06:56, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

Patent sections

There are now two sections titled Patents, and they have different information. I'm not exactly sure what is correct, so I'm notifying you here. Thanks Reywas92Talk 22:20, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

Honest representation of the Nova source

The use of the Nova source was slanted and left out many important details in the story it was referencing. I corrected some of them, but must assume many more remain. JohnHistory (talk) 06:23, 13 October 2009 (UTC)JohnHistory

USDA "recognition" of Percy Julian

I removed the following inappropriate WP:OR paragraph added to the lede by 71.123.31.25 (aka 141.149.208.54 / 71.123.29.191 / 71.182.123.65 / 71.123.17.215 / 71.182.107.102 / 70.16.52.193 / 70.16.61.75 / 71.182.122.21 / 71.182.100.111 / 71.240.244.35):

It took the USDA until June 13, 2008 to recognize Dr. Julian; "Giants of the past": Percy Lavon Julian, a forgotten pioneer in soy; and this is what, in part, it said: "He is most noted for his synthesis of cortisone from soybean sterols used to treat inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis which laid the foundation for the steroid drug industry's production of corticosteroids and birth control pills."[http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publications.htm?seq_no_115=215771][http://lipidlibrary.aocs.org/history/Julian/index.htm]

The "USDA" did not "recognize" Dr. Julian on June 13, 2008.
The "USDA" did not say "He is most noted for his synthesis of cortisone from soybean sterols used to treat inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis which laid the foundation for the steroid drug industry's production of corticosteroids and birth control pills."

Lynn4 (talk) 18:17, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

An administrator has reverted the insertion and reinsertion by 71.182.108.43 / 68.238.80.115 /70.16.49.248 (aka 141.149.208.54 / 71.123.29.191 / 71.182.123.65 / 71.123.17.215 / 71.182.107.102 / 70.16.52.193 / 70.16.61.75 / 71.182.122.21 / 71.182.100.111 / 71.240.244.35 / 71.123.31.25 / 71.240.247.110 / 71.182.108.220 / 68.238.92.153) of the following two WP:OR sentences into the middle of the second paragraph in the "Steroids" section:

Production of that first pound of progesterone would have presented as immense a challenge as the one facing the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, in nearby Peoria,IL, in the production of penicillin in the early 1940s.[http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/docs.htm?docid=12764]
Bulk production of progesterone would lay the foundation for the human birth control pill.[http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publications.htm?seq_no_115=215771]

Lynn4 (talk) 19:23, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

Percy L Julians Home

Your description of where Dr Julian lived when in the Chicago area is incomplete. Dr Julian came first to Maywood from New York, where he and his family lived for 15 years prior to moving to Oak Park, to work as a chemist at the American Can Company in Maywood. After his hostile reception by his superiors (he was dismissed after a short period due to his being black) he formed the Glidden Company in Franklin Park, IL. (this and other facts were noted in the PBS Special "Forgotten Genius"). Indeed the heading said Dr Percy L. Julian of Maywood, IL.

The street (14th (and Oak)) where he lived was renamed in his honor in a recent ceremony attended by his daughter who stated she and her family missed Maywood, it's integration and their friends there and long for the town when compared to the racism encountered by them in Oak Park.

Please view the forgotten genius segment for the complete story and true details of this son of Maywood

L.G. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 168.93.97.125 (talk) 22:04, 18 June 2012 (UTC)

Hi, 168.93.97.125/LG. I've replied in more detail on your talk page with an offer to help you edit the article yourself (see WP:SOFIXIT). Cheers! -- Bgpaulus (talk) 22:45, 18 June 2012 (UTC)
Hi, Bgpaulus. Thanks for your reach out. I am new to this and am not certian where my talk page might be. Can you help guide me?
Also, here is some additional information about Dr Julian:
1st African - American President of the Washington School (Maywood) PTA
1st African American President of the District 89 (Maywood/Melrose Park/Broadview) School Board
Led a number of "Open Housing" marches in Maywood in an attempt to more fully integrate the community
  • "The work of Julian and Marker would lay the foundation for a whole new class of medicines, including the birth control pill and a wonder drug that would soon take the world by storm. Source:
NARRATOR: Glidden's new soybean division was a success. Julian's reward was a raise that allowed him to be reunited with Anna. For the first three years of their marriage, she had been back east, earning her Ph.D. and working in the Washington public schools. Now she joined Percy in Chicago, at last.
As the couple settled into their new home, in the Westside community of Maywood, Anna learned just how driven her husband could be when it came to chemistry.
"Science can be a hard taskmaster," she would remember. "Dinner can be at seven or 11, as far as the true disciple of chemistry is concerned."
Glidden was delighted with Julian's chemistry, but Julian was becoming restless.
www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3402_julian.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 168.93.97.125 (talk) 23:40, 18 June 2012 (UTC)
I'll be happy to help, 168.93.97.125/LG:
  1. Click here for an introduction to Wikipedia.
  2. I strongly encourage you to create an account. Doing so is free, requires no personal information, and provides several benefits such as the ability to create articles.
  3. I've created a special editing area called a "sandbox" in which you and I can work together to improve the article's "Oak Park and Julian Laboratories" section and where you can get some practice editing on Wikipedia without worrying about accidentally messing up an actual article.
Since this is the talk page specifically for the Percy Lavon Julian article, I'd like to please continue our conversation over on my talk page. When you're ready, simply go there and find the message I've left for you under "New messages (start a new section)". Cheers! -- Bgpaulus (talk) 20:20, 19 June 2012 (UTC)

More COPYVIOs and SYNTH by disruptive IP-hopping anonymous editor

I reverted the reintroduction of these tangential WP:COPYVIO sentences to the "Steroids" section and the reintroduction of the inaccurate, totally WP:SYNTH and WP:COPYVIO "Epilogue" section
by the persistently disruptive IP-hopping anonymous editor 132.236.120.83 / 71.240.253.202
(aka 71.182.111.225 / 71.123.25.175 141.149.208.54 / 71.123.29.191 / 71.182.123.65 / 71.123.17.215 / 71.182.107.102 / 70.16.52.193 / 70.16.61.75 / 71.182.100.111 / 71.240.244.35 / 71.123.31.25 / 71.240.247.110 / 70.16.49.248 / 71.182.108.43 / 71.182.98.194):

WP:COPYVIO re-added 12:42, 25 July 2012:

The first methods for direct extraction of progesterone from cow ovaries, a process that required 50,000 cows, yielded 20 mg of purified hormone!
Prices were consequently very high.

from: (anonymous) (2011) "Wild Yam". Ipswich, Mass.: EBSCO Publishing:

When progesterone was first discovered, it was very expensive to produce.
The first methods involved direct extraction of progesterone from cow ovaries, a process that required 50,000 cows to yield 20 mg of purified hormone!

Note: This refers to the very first reported scientific isolation in 1934 of 20 mg of chemically pure crystalline progesterone by Adolf Butenandt and Ulrich Westphal in Berlin, Germany, which required extracts of sow corpus lutea prepared by the Schering-Kahlbaum pharmaceutical company from 625 kg of ovaries from 50,000 sows; not the commercial production of progesterone.

WP:COPYVIO re-added 10:13, 25 July 2012:

In 1940, Julian sent a one-pound package of progesterone to the Upjohn pharmaceutical company.
Shipped under armed guard and valued at nearly $70,000, it was the first commercial shipment of an artificial sex hormone produced anywhere in America.

from: Lyons, Stephen; Smith, Llewellyn M. (February 6, 2007). "Forgotten Genius transcript". NOVA. Boston, Mass.: WGBH:

In 1940, Julian sent a one-pound package of progesterone to the Upjohn pharmaceutical company.
Shipped under armed guard and valued at nearly $70,000, it was the first commercial shipment of an artificial sex hormone produced anywhere in America.

WP:COPYVIO and WP:SYNTH re-added 10:10, 25 July 2012:

Epilogue
In 1940, Percy Julian sent a one-pound package of progesterone made from soybean phytosterols to the Upjohn pharmaceutical company.
That shipment was the world's first commercial progesterone made in quantity from soy sterols.
Production continued through the years of WWII and into the early 1950s.
Competition from Russell Marker forced Glidden to abandon steroid semisynthesis from soy sterols in the 1950s.
Eventually, however, corporate competition and difficult labor conditions eventually forced Russell Marker to close his plant in Mexico.
But Marker's method of synthesizing progesterone continued to be used, bringing the price down drastically and helping to pave the way for the modern birth control pill.
Progesterone continued to be manufactured from wild yam Mexican barbasco trade for decades, until a cheaper source of raw material was found in cultivated soybeans.

from: Lyons, Stephen; Smith, Llewellyn M. (February 6, 2007). "Forgotten Genius transcript". NOVA. Boston, Mass.: WGBH:

In 1940, Julian sent a one-pound package of progesterone to the Upjohn pharmaceutical company.

and from: (anonymous) (2011) "Wild Yam". Ipswich, Mass.: EBSCO Publishing:

Unfortunately, corporate competition and difficult labor conditions eventually forced him to close his plant.
But Marker's method of synthesizing progesterone continued to be used, bringing the price down drastically and helping to pave the way for the modern birth control pill.
Progesterone continued to be manufactured from wild yam for decades, until a cheaper source of raw material was found in cultivated soybeans.

The anonymously-authored EBSCO "Wild Yam" fact sheet is not a reliable source. The only historical reference it cites is a 31-year-old pharmacognosy textbook:

  • Tyler, Varro E.; Brady, Lynn R.; Robbers, James E. (1981). Pharmacognosy, 8th ed. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, ISBN 0812107934, p. 185.

which does not support the EBSCO "Wild Yam" fact sheet's statement that:

Progesterone continued to be manufactured from wild yam for decades, until a cheaper source of raw material was found in cultivated soybeans.

A more current pharmacognosy textbook:

  • Evans, William Charles (2009). Pharmacognosy, 16th ed. Edinburgh: Saunders Elsevier, ISBN 9780702029332, p. 308, says:

Until 1970 diosgenin isolated from the Mexican yam was the sole source for steroidal contraceptive manufacture. With the nationalization of the Mexican industry, however, prices were increased to such an extent that manufacturers switched to hecongenin for corticosteroids, to other sources of diosgenin and to the use of steroidal alkaloids of Solanum species. Total synthesis also became economically feasible and is now much used. More recently, the economics of steroid production have again changed in that China is now exporting large quantities of diosgenin; it is of high quality, being free of the 25β-isomer yamogenin, although this is of no commercial significance, and is reasonably priced. Three of the many Dioscorea spp. found in China and used commercially are given in Table 23.2; the tubers yield 2% diosgenin, with the average content of diosgenin for the main areas of production (Yunnan Province and south of the Yangtze River) being 1%.

The anonymously-authored EBSCO "Wild Yam" fact sheet also said:

Unfortunately, corporate competition and difficult labor conditions eventually forced him [Russell Marker] to close his plant.

which is true, but out of context:

Marker co-founded Syntex in March 1944, left Syntex in May 1945 to found Botanica-Mex, which produced progesterone from July 1945 to March 1946, then sold the assets of Botanica-Mex to the Hungarian firm Gedeon Richter, which renamed it Hormosynth, which Marker advised until 1949 when he quit doing chemistry. Gedeon Richter sold Hormosynth to the Dutch firm Organon in 1951, which renamed it Diosynth (with headquarters in the United States) with its Mexican subsidiary named Quimica Esteroidal, S.A. de C.V. Organon was part of KZO, which became AKZO in 1969, which became AkzoNobel in 1994, was acquired by Schering-Plough in 2007, which merged with Merck in 2009.
The Mexican steroid industry using Dioscorea that Marker started may have forced Glidden to abandon steroid synthesis from soya sterols in 1953, but by then Marker had long since sold Botanica-Mex in 1946 and left chemistry in 1949.

The disruptive IP-hopping anonymous editor has also cut and pasted the same trivia, WP:OR and WP:COPYVIOs into the: Carl Djerassi, Combined oral contraceptive pill, Upjohn, Mexican barbasco trade, and Stigmasterol articles.
Lynn4 (talk) 14:55, 26 July 2012 (UTC)

No, the addition of tangential trivia and WP:SYNTH would not be acceptable if paraphrased. No, the longtime persistently disruptive IP-hopping editor has not made attempts to communicate on this or other talk pages. Lynn4 (talk) 00:33, 2 August 2012 (UTC)

The Chemical Heritage Foundation, a library and museum for the history of chemistry, has a Teacher's Guide with activities and readings for a unit on Percy Julian, The Life and Science of Percy Julian. Would it be possible to add this to the external links? Thanks, Mary Mark Ockerbloom (talk) 18:31, 15 June 2013 (UTC)

 Done--DThomsen8 (talk) 22:08, 15 June 2013 (UTC)

I have updated the external link to the ACS National Historic Chemical Landmarks program and corrected the award listing. I could find no source to support the prior citation, however Julian was recognized by ACS under the NHCL program in the same year. I am the program coordinator of the ACS-NHCL program.KLindblom (talk) 23:32, 21 February 2014 (UTC)

Wild Yam Butts?

Could someone confirm that "butts" is the correct word in the sentence "Syntex reduced the cost of butts as an intermediate..."? Just want to make sure it is not the work of gremlins. NMLiz (talk) 09:50, 11 April 2014 (UTC)

Rarity of education pursuit

"At a time when it was extremely rare for African-Americans to pursue an education beyond the eighth grade, Julian's parents steered all of their children toward higher education." What is the intended meaning of this sentence? Surely not that Julian's parents were rare among African-Americans in their desire for their children to have higher education! I am going to edit it to reflect lack of access to higher education. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 146.243.157.135 (talk) 13:43, 11 April 2014 (UTC)

Reference sources the quote as coming from DuPont, not DePauw.

Wiki: "In 1936 Julian was denied a professorship at DePauw for racial reasons. DePauw had offered a job to fellow chemist Josef Pikl but declined to hire Julian, despite his superlative qualifications as an organic chemist, apologizing that they were "unaware he was a Negro".[18]"

Source: "DuPont offered a job to Pikl, but declined to hire Julian, to whom they explained that, although initially interested, they had been "unaware he was a Negro."

I did not edit the article as it would require significant moving of text. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 146.243.157.135 (talk) 13:57, 11 April 2014 (UTC)

Add Google Doodle to 'Legacy and Honors' section?

I believe that there are other people who have had google doodles about them added to a "Legacy and Honors" section. Should we do that here? Refs are *not* going to be a problem with that Time, Washington Post.Naraht (talk) 15:17, 11 April 2014 (UTC)

Africans call homelesses plants

Because plants cannot move and homeless cannot move far. Africans have a method to make homeless off anyone, generally called criminality (continuous theft and identity theft). It is to be suspected that **synthesis from plants** is an euphemism for **cannibal experimentation with homeless**, a common slang well understood in NYC. Such slang is very effective when the plant happened to could-have-been a great chemist. - djb — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.113.167.4 (talk) 16:04, 11 April 2014 (UTC)

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