World of Scientific Discovery on Ernest Everett Just
Ernest Just was a pioneer in the study of human egg fertilization, artificial parthenogenesis, the relationship of bacteria to human cells, and the effect of environment on cell division. A native of Charleston, South Carolina, Just was born the oldest of three children on August 14, 1883. His mother, Mary Matthews Just, opened a private religious school, where she taught her son. His father, Frazier Just, a dock worker and wharf builder, died in 1887, when Just was only four years old. Just learned early that he would have to work in the fields to help his mother support the family.
In 1900, having completed six years of education at the Industrial School in Orangeburg, South Carolina, Just worked his way to New York aboard a coastal steamer. He studied at the Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, New Hampshire, where he edited the school paper and led the debate club. He studied biology at Dartmouth College, where he enrolled in every available biology course and developed a specialty in cytology. In 1907, he graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.
Just began teaching zoology at Howard University in 1907. He was named head of the zoology department in 1912 and remained in that position the rest of his life. He married colleague Ethel Highwarden, joined the medical staff, and, as a means of upgrading the school's training of physicians, headed the physiology department. In 1915, he took a leave of absence from his teaching post to complete a doctorate in zoology at the University of Chicago.
From 1909 to 1930, Just taught during the school year, then spent his summers immersed in productive research among Nobel scientists at the renowned marine lab at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. With his knowledge of French and German, he studied widely the nature of the cell, particularly the transfer of water within the cell, the effects of ultraviolet light on the number of chromosomes in a cell, and other variations in the reproductive cell caused by manipulation of physical and chemical conditions. His findings resulted in more than sixty published articles in scientific journals.
A precise researcher, Just examined the formation of egg and sperm cells in sea urchins and sandworms and perfected methods of identifying and standardizing cell samples. Departing from theories of his day, he used seawater to produce parthenogenesis, or spermless fertilization, in sea urchins. Supported by the National Research Council, the Carnegie Corporation, the Rosenwald Foundation, Julius Rosenwald, and the General Education Board, his studies determined the importance of cytoplasm and L ectoplasm to fertilization and heredity. He also produced more current data on the function of the kidneys, pancreas, and liver, which proved crucial to the study of cancer. His findings, which fellow scientists valued highly, assisted the differentiation between living and non-living matter and between animals and plants, determination of sex in unborn fetuses, and an understanding of evolution. He published two books, The Biology of the Cell Surface (1939) and Basic Methods for Experiments on Eggs of Marine Animals (1939), and edited The Biological Bulletin, Protoplasma, General Cytology, The Journal of Morphology, and Physiological Zoology. He served as vice president of the American Society of Zoologists and was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
During the 1930s, Just grew bitter because of the scientific community's callous indifference to black scholarship. Unable to obtain a suitable post at a major university research center, he moved to Berlin to work at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute. Just later worked in Russia, Italy, and France, where he lectured at the Sorbonne. For his work, Just became the first notable black to receive the NAACP's Spingarn Medal. Even more to his credit, he trained a cadre of research scientists who followed his meticulous laboratory method and furthered his inquiry into the nature of the cell. Just died of cancer in Washington, D.C., on October 27, 1941, and was buried in the Lincoln Cemetery. In 1996, the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp honoring Just as part of its Black Heritage series.
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