Ernest Everett Just

Although he was born in the segregated conditions of the South, Ernest Everett Just became one of the most highly respected scientists of his time, graduating magna cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1907, earning a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1916, and teaching at Howard University in Washington, D.C. from 1909 until his death in 1941. Critical to scientific reputation was his research at the Marine Biology Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, beginning in 1909. Just published more than 50 scientific papers based on his 20 years at Woods Hole. In addition, he wrote one of the most important text books of the 20th century, Biology of the Cell Surface (1939). Beginning in 1929, he engaged in an extensive amount of research in Europe, which lasted until his return to the United States in 1940. Having been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he died the following year.