Genealogy of African American PhD Chemists
I recently shared a copy of my article on the career and achievements of Dr. Robert Percy Barnes with a mentor in the chemical industry. (Barnes is the first African American to earn a PhD in chemistry from Harvard University in 1933.) After reading the article, she sent me an email and stated, "Your research suggests there are clusters of Black PhD chemists trained from specific individuals." My mentor couldn't be more correct about this genealogy of African American PhD chemists. Barnes earned his PhD under the direction of Professor E.P. Kohler, who also trained Dr. Percy L. Julian. Although Julian did earn his M.A. degree in chemistry from Harvard in 1923, he was not allowed to pursue his PhD due to academic racism. Julian later earned his doctorate from the University of Vienna in 1931. However, Barnes trained a number of African American chemists that earned doctoral degrees in chemistry at other institutions. For example, Chappelle C. Cochrane earned his B.S. ...