Julian, Percy Lavon (1899-1975)

Lavon was an african american research chemist. He was born in Montgomery Alabama. He created many of the synthetic products such as testosterone, hormones progesterone, testosterone, cortisone and drugs to treat glaucoma. He owned more than 100 pattents, most of them derived from soybeans. In 1931 he obtained his PhD at the university of vienna, Austria. Before and after he graduated from Vienna, Julian taught at Howard University. His early research consisted in creating a synthetic version of physostigmine, a drug used to treat glaucoma. He achieved this work in 1935.

After his discoveries he was searched by the world of industries to sell his work and create new ideas for the development of new drugs. He then started working with the extraction of proteins from soybeans to then isolate the hormones and creating steroids. He also created a fire extinguisher that isolated oil and fire; this discovery saved many lives in WWII.

He kept working with synthetic drugs and in 1964 he sold his company to become director of the Julian Research Institute.



Julian Percy Lavon

Julian Percy Lavon's Lab