10 Forgotten Historical Figures You Didn't Know Changed Your Life

Percy Julian accomplished an insane amount things in his life. It's almost bittersweet to think about what more he could have done if he had not been black and forced to deal with a lot of bull.

Born in 1899 in Montgomery, Alabama, the grandson of former slaves (bull point 1). Julian only attended school until the eighth grade, as no high schools in Montgomery at the time were open to black students (going to stop counting bull points here, otherwise things are going to get out of hand).

He went on to a black teacher training school, from which he applied to De Pauw University in Indiana. While studying his degree he had to attend night school due to the gaps in his education and held down a job to pay his college expenses, despite all of this he graduated first in his class.

Julian's chosen discipline: chemistry.

Julian developed ways to synthesise several chemicals from soybeans, including physostigmine (used to treat glaucoma), progesterone, (prevented miscarriages), and cortisone (pain relief). Much of his work would help develop treatment for a variety of ailments, still in use today.

Over the course of his career he held over 100 patents for chemicals and chemical processes.