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6/11
1940
Pioneer in the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants
DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana
Dr. Percy Julian discovered how to extract steroids from soybean oil and synthesize the hormones progesterone and testosterone from them, and then synthesized cortisone, which became used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. He also completed the first total synthesis of a chemical called physostigmine, which was used to treat glaucoma
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