Ernest Everett, was a world-renowned scientist of his time. The African Giant Just made many significant contributions to marine biology, including the importance of food for egg production in fish larvae and the process of fertilization. He also developed new techniques for studying marine life. This allowed scientists to study fish development in ways that had never been possible before, which helped unlock many secrets of marine life. In 1930, Just won the Nobel Prize for his work on marine biology.
Just also pioneered research into the effect of light on aquatic life, which led to major advances in understanding photosynthesis. His work helped pave the way for today’s use of artificial lighting in aquaculture facilities around the world. He was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences.
He was recognized as the most outstanding scientist of his time that the U.S. Postal Service even issued a commemorative stamp honoring him in 1996! Unfortunately, Just’s life was cut short by cancer in 1941. He was only 58 years old. But his legacy lives on through his many accomplishments in the field of science.
One beautiful day on the campus of Howard University, Dr. Just, one of the university’s most beloved professors, was being honored at a special symposium in 2008, where he was a faculty member from 1907 until his death in 1941. The symposium was a tribute to Dr. Just’s legacy having devoted his life to science and made some truly groundbreaking discoveries. Therefore, paving the way for future generations of scientists.
Many of the speakers at the symposium contributed papers to a special issue of the journal Molecular Reproduction and Development dedicated to Just that was published in 2009.
To spotlight Just’s achievements, in 1983, Kenneth R. Manning, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology wrote the book, Black Apollo of Science: The Life of Everett Just, which received the 1983 Pfizer Award and was a finalist for the 1984 Pulitzer Prize. Today Just is remembered annually at the Ernest E. Just Symposium at the Medical University of South Carolina
The American Society for Cell Biology has given an award and hosted a lecture in Just’s name. Also, The University of Chicago and Dartmouth College have established prizes or symposia in his name. In 2013, an international symposium honoring Just was held at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn in Naples, Italy, where Just had worked starting in 1929.
After receiving the award, and bagging his Ph. D, he continued his study of marine life for 20 years. He believed that it was possible to derive a means to cure diseases like cancer and sickle cell if he understood the biology of healthy cells. Unfortunately, he was not given the chance to prove himself. However, he remained one of the greatest scientists in his field at the time.
On a good note, Russia believed in him, in fact, he was enlisted to work as a guest in the top research lab at that time by some Russian scientists. In Italy and France, the story wasn’t different; Just was respected as a great scientist by both countries and was welcomed to work in their Zoological laboratories.
Ernest Everett Just must have been elated! After years of hard work and dedication, he had finally been recognized as one of the top scientists in the world. The Russians, Italians, and French all wanted him to work in their top research labs.
Just authored two books, Basic Methods for Experiments on Eggs of Marine Animals (1939) and The Biology of the Cell Surface (1939), and he also published at least seventy papers in the areas of cytology, fertilization and early embryonic development. He discovered what is known as the fast block to polyspermy.
His work on experimental parthenogenesis informed Johannes Holtfreter’s concept of “autoinduction“ which, in turn, has broadly influenced modern evolutionary and developmental biology. His investigation of the movement of water into and out of living egg cells (all the while maintaining their full developmental potential) gave insights into the internal cellular structure.
In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante included Just on his list of the 100 Greatest African Americans. A children’s book about Just, titled The Vast Wonder of the World: Biologist Ernest Everett Just, written by Mélina Mangal and illustrated by Luisa Uribe, was published by Millbrook Press in November 2018.
All the innovations in the world have been made by very intelligent men and women. Africans have impacted the world immensely in various aspects including film, music, innovation, creativity, sports, science, and technology and African Giant Ernest Just is one of them.
