Ernest E. Just, was a pioneering biologist, academic science writer and zoologist who specialized in cytology (the study of the cell), and is best know for his contributions to marine biology. Just was born August 14, 1883 in Charleston, South Carolina. When Just was young, he became severely sick for six weeks with typhoid. Once the fever passed, he had a hard time recuperating. After previously learning to read and write, he now had to relearn. His early education was in a small, segregated school operated by his mother on James Island, the Frederick Deming, Jr. Industrial School. Because high schools in the South provided such poor education at that time, at the age of 13, Just enrolled in the teacher training program at the Colored Normal, Industrial, Agricultural and Mechanical College of South Carolina in Orangeburg.
When Ernest E. Just was thirteen years old, his mother made the decision to move the family North to give them a better education. Graduating in 1899, at age 16, the Just family left South Carolina, and Ernest attended the Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, New Hampshire. The Kimball Academy was an exclusive school and Just proved himself worthy by excelling in his classes. He was the editor of the school newspaper and president of the debating team. During Just's second year at Kimball, he returned home for a visit only to learn that his mother had been buried an hour before he arrived. Despite this hardship Ernest Just completed the four-year course of study in only three years. He was now qualified to teach at any school.
He worked for a few years prior to enrolling at Dartmouth College, aided by scholarships. In 1903, Just entered Dartmouth College and studied biology, history, literature, and the classics. It was here that Just developed an interest in biology after reading a paper on fertilization and egg development. Just won special honors in zoology, and distinguished himself in botany, history, and sociology as well. He was also honored as a Rufus Choate scholar for two years and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In 1907, he was the only person in his graduating class to receive magna cum laude academic honors with his Bachelor’s of Arts degree in zoology, special honors in botany and history, and honors in sociology. Being Black, Just had little opportunity to pursue a career in science.
So, October 1907, after leaving Dartmouth, he then joined the faculty department at Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he taught English, biology, his beloved subject, and zoology. He eventually switched and became the first head of Howard’s Zoology department in 1912. He also served in the physiology department. It was his groundbreaking work on marine embryology that garnered him international acclaim. During his time at Howard, Just established Omega Psi Phi in 1911, the first fraternity on the campus. Just also blazed new trails in designing techniques for collection eggs and sperm cells and laboratory methods of working with the cells.
During the summer of 1912, Just he was invited to the prestigious Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where he served as a research assistant. Dr. Frank Rattray Lillie, the director of MBL and head of the Zoology Department at the University of Chicago, suggested that Just complete a PhD under his guidance. While at the MBL, Just learned to handle marine invertebrate eggs and embryos with skill and understanding. He made shocking advancements in the field of fertilization of marine invertebrates. Just’s studies determined the breeding habits of annelids, such as marine worms and sea urchins, and his ability to make marine embryos develop normally impressed many of his peers.
Soon his expertise was in great demand by both junior and senior researchers alike. He became an authority of identification procedures to ensure that cells used in experiments were normal, healthy cells. Dr. Just was a contributing editor to various scientific journals and published more than sixty research papers in leading biological journals. Just’s key contributions served to enhance our understanding of the physiology of early biological development. He focused on fertilization, cell division, the physiology of cell development, and the effects of dehydration and ultraviolet radiation on cell and chromosome structure.
As a researcher, Just was called a “genius in the design of experiments.” For the next twenty years, Just would revolutionize the field of microbiology at this laboratory and would be called the first ecological developmental biologist. With several papers published, Just was ready to graduate with his PhD in 1915, but needed to establish a 1 year residency in Chicago (as he had spent all his time at the marine lab in Woods Hole) to complete his degree. That same year, at the age of 32, he was the first person to receive the Spingarn Medal from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), for his accomplishments as a pure scientist.
Just and his advisor Dr. Lillie were able to convince the administration at Howard University (where Just continued to teach) to allow Just to take a year leave of absence. Just took physiology classes during his year at University of Chicago and received his PhD in experimental embryology, with a thesis on the mechanics of fertilization in 1916. A careful and meticulous experimentalist, he was regarded as "a genius in the design of experiments." He had explored other areas including: experimental parthenogenesis, cell division, hydration, dehydration in cells, UV carcinogenic radiation on cells, and physiology of development.
Dr. Lillie advocated for Just’s hire as a permanent researcher at MBL, but was ultimately unsuccessful due to racism within the MBL community. There followed, for the remainder of his life, international recognition of his work and publications–especially in Europe–together with frustration and bitterness, because no scientific appointments were made available to him. From 1920-1931 Dr. Just was the Julius Rosenwald Fellow in Biology of the National Research Council. Under this grant program he engaged in research as an adjunct researcher of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biology in Berlin, working under Professor Max Hartman's department. He is a contributor to Volume Two of Dr. Jerome Alexander's three-volume series on "Colloid Chemistry".
In 1924 Dr. Just was selected from among the biologists of the world by a group of German biologist to contribute to a monograph on fertilization, one of a series of monographs by specialists working on fundamental problems of the function and structure of the cell. He believed that in learning about healthy cells and cell structures, man could hope to understand and find cures for cellular irregularities and diseases such as sickle cell anemia and cancer. By this time he had already published several research articles, both as a single author and a co-author with Dr. Lillie. Dr. Just became frustrated because he found it difficult to obtain research funding or a secure a faculty position from institutions outside of historically Black colleges or universities.
Although Dr. Just was considered a leader and authority for his work with cell development, as an African American, he continued to experience racism and prejudice. For this reason, Dr. Ernest E. Just decided to study in Europe in 1930. With the support of the Rosenwald fellowship, Just moved to Naples, Italy to conduct research at Anton Dohrn, a highly respected zoology research facility. After producing remarkable research at there, he he became the first American to received admission into the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin-Dahlem, Germany, where Nobel Prize-winning research was conducted. Altogether from his first trip in 1929 to his last in 1938, Just made ten or more visits to Europe to pursue research.
Scientists treated him like a celebrity and encouraged him to extend his theory on the ectoplasm to other species. While conducting research, Just published two books, "Basic Methods for Experiments on Eggs of Marine Animals" (1939) and "The Biology of Cell Surface" (1939) and over seventy research papers. While in Europe in 1938 he published a number of papers and lectured on the topic of cell cytoplasm. Just moved to France to finish his research once World War II began. During World War II, Just was warned to leave France because of the impending invasion from Nazi Germany, but he stubbornly remained to complete his research. As a consequence, Just was captured and put into a Nazi prisoner camp.
With the help of the family of his second wife, a German citizen, he was rescued by the U.S. State Department and he returned to his home country in September 1940. However, Just had been very ill for months prior to his encampment and his condition deteriorated in prison. He died shortly thereafter. Ernest Just is remembered today as one of the most famous biologists who transcended the barriers faced by early twentieth century Blacks scholars in the U.S. Although he found it difficult to obtain research funding or a secure a faculty position from institutions outside of historically Black colleges or universities, Ernest E. Just may not be well known outside of the scientific world, but he left a legacy within it.