Julius Henry "Jute" Taylor (15 February 1914 – 27 August 2011) was a professor emeritus at Morgan State University, where he was also the first chairperson of the department of physics, which he helped to establish at the university. He was the second African-American person to receive a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the first African-American person to receive a PhD in physics at the university. Taylor's research focused on x-ray diffusion, and electrical and optical properties of semi-conductors. Early life and education Julius Henry Taylor was born on 15 February 1914 in Cape May, New Jersey, one of six children of Julia Price Taylor and Coleman H. Taylor. His father worked as a brick and concrete mason and his mother worked as a maid at the Cape May Court House and at a drugstore in Cape May. He grew up in the Cape May Court House section of Middle Township, New Jersey and graduated from Middle Township High School in 1932. In high school, he ran track, was a champion pole vaulter, played on the basketball team, and played trumpet. At the encouragement of his future wife, Patricia Spaulding, he enrolled in and attended Lincoln University in Oxford, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Lincoln, which is a historically Black university, in 1938 with a bachelor's degree in chemistry. During college, he paid tuition by working odd jobs and playing the trumpet at night. Following his undergraduate studies, Taylor went on to attend the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There, he earned his master's and PhD degrees in physics, and studied with Dr. Gaylord Harnwell. He graduated with a PhD in solid state physics in 1947. He was among the first African-American people to receive a physics PhD, and the second African-American person to receive a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. Taylor was a Rosenwald Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. Career After earning his doctorate degree, Taylor published physics research under contract with the United States Navy. He then moved on to academia, and joined the faculty of West Virginia State College (now West Virginia State University), in Institute, West Virginia, in 1945 as chairman of the physics department. In 1949, he joined the faculty at Morgan State College (now Morgan State University) in Baltimore, Maryland. Morgan State and West Virginia State are both historically Black universities. Taylor was recruited to Morgan State