<P> Percy Lavon Julian ( April 11 , 1899 -- April 19 , 1975 ) was an African American research chemist and a pioneer in the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants . He 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 . </P>
<P> Percy Lavon Julian ( April 11 , 1899 -- April 19 , 1975 ) was an African American research chemist and a pioneer in the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants . He 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 . </P>
who was the african american scientist who created synthetic physostigmine
who was the african american scientist who created synthetic physostigmine
Percy Lavon Julian
Percy Lavon Julian