St. Elmo Brady (December 22, 1884 – December 26, 1966) was an American chemist who was the first
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
to obtain a
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
in
chemistry
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...
in the United States. He received his doctorate at the
University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...
in 1915.
Early life and education
St. Elmo Brady was born on December 22, 1884, in
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...
.
Greatly influenced by
Thomas W. Talley, a pioneer in the teaching of science, Brady received his bachelor's degree from
Fisk University
Fisk University is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus i ...
in 1908 at the age of 24, and immediately began teaching at
Tuskegee Institute
Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU; formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute) is a Private university, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States. It was f ...
in Alabama. Brady also had a close relationship with and was mentored by
Booker T. Washington
Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, and orator. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the primary leader in the African-American community and of the contemporary Black elite#United S ...
and
George Washington Carver
George Washington Carver ( 1864 – January 5, 1943) was an American Agricultural science, agricultural scientist and inventor who promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion. He was one of the most prominent bla ...
. In 1912, after his time at Tuskegee University, he was offered a scholarship to the University of Illinois to engage in graduate studies. St Elmo Brady was a member of
Alpha Phi Alpha
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the ...
fraternity
Brady published three scholarly abstracts in
Science
Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
in 1914–15 on his work with Professor Clarence Derick. He also collaborated with Professor George Beal on a paper published in
Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry titled, "The Hydrochloride Method for the Determination of Alkaloids." Professor Brady also authored monographs entitled Household Chemistry for Girls (1916) and Elements of Metallurgy for Dental Students (1924).
Brady completed a
M.S.
A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medicine ...
in chemistry in 1914 and carried out his Ph.D. thesis work at
Noyes Laboratory
The William Albert Noyes Laboratory of Chemistry, located on the campus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign at 505 S. Mathews Avenue in Urbana, Illinois, United States, was built in 1902 as the "New Chemical Laboratory", and was desig ...
under the direction of Derick, writing a dissertation in 1916 titled "The Divalent Oxygen Atom."
Many years later, he told his students that when he went to graduate school, "they began with 20 whites and one other, and ended in 1916 with six whites and one other."
Legacy
Brady was the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in chemistry in the United States, which he received from the University of Illinois in 1916.
During his time at Illinois, Brady became the first African American admitted to the university's chemical honor society,
Phi Lambda Upsilon
Phi Lambda Upsilon National Honorary Chemical Society () was founded in 1899 at the Noyes Laboratory of the University of Illinois. Phi Lambda Upsilon was the first honor society dedicated to scholarship in a single discipline, chemistry.
Objec ...
, (1914), and he was one of the first African Americans to be inducted into
Sigma Xi
Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society () is an international non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a faculty member and graduate students in 1886 and is one of the oldest ...
, the science honorary society (1915).
In November 1916, ''
The Crisis
''The Crisis'' is the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). It was founded in 1910 by W. E. B. Du Bois (editor), Oswald Garrison Villard, J. Max Barber, Charles Edward Russell, Kelly M ...
''—monthly magazine of the
NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...
—selected Brady for its biographical sketch as "Man of the Month."
After completing his graduate studies, Brady taught at
Tuskegee University
Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU; formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute) is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States. It was founded as a normal school for teachers on July 4, 1881, by the ...
from 1916 to 1920. Brady accepted a teaching position at
Howard University
Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...
in Washington, D.C., in 1920 and eventually became the Chair of Howard University's Chemistry Department.
In 1927 he moved to Fisk University to chair the school's Chemistry department. He remained at Fisk for 25 years until his retirement in 1952. While serving as the chair for the Chemistry department at Fisk University, Brady founded the first ever graduate studies program at a black college or university. After his retirement from Fisk, he taught at
Tougaloo College
Tougaloo College is a private historically black college in the Tougaloo area of Jackson, Mississippi, United States. It is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). It was established in 1869 by ...
in Jackson, Mississippi.
The research Brady carried out at Fisk resulted in several publications, including a 1938 paper in the '' Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Society'' on the
phytochemical
Phytochemicals are naturally-occurring chemicals present in or extracted from plants. Some phytochemicals are nutrients for the plant, while others are metabolites produced to enhance plant survivability and reproduction.
The fields of ext ...
s in the seed of the magnolia, and a 1939 paper in the ''Journal of the American Chemical Society'' on the reactions of
ricinoleic acid
Ricinoleic acid, formally called 12-hydroxy-9-''cis''-octadecenoic acid, is a fatty acid. It is an Unsaturated fatty acid, unsaturated omega-9 fatty acid and a hydroxy acid. It is a major component of the seed oil obtained from the seeds of casto ...
. In 1952, Brady published a paper with Samuel P. Massie on the preparation of 1,1-dichloroheptane.
Brady's principal legacy was his establishment of strong undergraduate curricula, graduate programs, and fundraising development for four historically black colleges and universities. In conjunction with faculty from the University of Illinois, he established a summer program in
infrared spectroscopy
Infrared spectroscopy (IR spectroscopy or vibrational spectroscopy) is the measurement of the interaction of infrared radiation with matter by absorption, emission, or reflection. It is used to study and identify chemical substances or functio ...
, which was open to faculty from all colleges and universities.
Talley-Brady Hall on the Fisk campus is named for Brady and another Fisk alumnus,
Thomas Talley.
Personal life
Brady married Myrtle Travers and they had two sons, Robert and St. Elmo Brady Jr. who worked as a
physician
A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...
.
See also
*
Edward Bouchet
Edward Alexander Bouchet (September 15, 1852 – October 28, 1918) was an American physicist and educator and was the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from any American university, completing his dissertation in physics at Yale University ...
(1852–1918), first African American to earn a Ph.D. from any American university (in physics at Yale in 1876)
*
Edward Marion Augustus Chandler
Edward Marion Augustus Chandler (April 10, 1887 – March 22, 1973) was the second African American to receive a Ph.D. in chemistry while studying at University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and was a founding faculty member at Roosevelt Unive ...
(1887–1973), second African American to obtain a PhD in chemistry (1917)
*
Percy Lavon Julian
Percy Lavon Julian (April 11, 1899 – April 19, 1975) was an American research chemist and a pioneer in the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants. Julian was the first person to synthesize the natural product physostigmine, and a pio ...
(1899–1975), third African American to obtain a PhD in chemistry (1931)
*
Marie Maynard Daly
Marie Maynard Daly (April 16, 1921October 28, 2003) was an American biochemist. She was the first African-American to receive a Ph.D. from Columbia University and the first African-American woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry ...
(1921–2003), first female African American to obtain a PhD in chemistry (1947)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brady, St Elmo
1884 births
1996 deaths
20th-century American chemists
20th-century African-American scientists
Fisk University alumni
Fisk University faculty
Howard University faculty
Scientists from Louisville, Kentucky
Tougaloo College faculty
Tuskegee University faculty
University of Illinois College of Liberal Arts and Sciences alumni