Ernest Everett Just

Throwback Thursday Snapshot

May 29, 2025

The years of his life were often experienced with unkind treatment, as he faced much discrimination for being black. But through the challenges, Ernest Everett Just kept finding opportunities, and in doing so, became an instrumental part of scientific research.

Born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1883, Ernest was only four years old when his father and grandfather passed away, making his mother financially responsible for him and two younger siblings. His mother, who also experienced the loss of her two eldest children from disease only a couple of years prior to losing her husband, supported the family by teaching during the school year and working in phosphate mines during summertime. Despite her long hours and heavy burdens, she took time to teach Ernest after a serious bout of dysentery left him needing to relearn how to read and write.

At the start of his teens, Ernest’s mother enrolled him in school in hopes he would become a teacher. Starting first at a school in South Carolina, his mother then sent him to Kimball Union Academy college prep school in New Hampshire, believing schools in the North could provide her son with a better education. Soon after, on a trip home, Ernest learned his mother had passed away just an hour before his arrival. He returned to school and, amidst his sorrow, earned top grades in his class while graduating in only three years instead of the typical four.

In 1903, Ernest began the undergraduate program at Dartmouth. He struggled in his coursework at first. But with time, his grades improved, and he discovered a passion for biology. Ernest graduated from Dartmouth as the only Magna Cum Laude recipient of his class and the Valedictorian. However, the tradition of a Valedictorian speech was not honored because of his race.

After Dartmouth, Ernest took a teaching position at Howard University. He then earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. But unable to secure a teaching position from a major university in the U.S., Ernest moved to Europe, taking a role at a lab in Naples, Italy. Here he thrived. He appreciated the way research was being conducted, how researchers treated one another, the time they spent together.

In his research, Ernest studied the fertilization process in marine animals, including sea urchins and starfish. He discovered that the process involved a complex series of chemical interactions between the egg and sperm, which he called the “fertilization membrane.” He also challenged the prevailing belief that the sperm dominated fertilization, showing instead that the egg played an active, vital role.

Throughout his career, Ernest made foundational contributions to biological science. He was respected worldwide, known for his brilliance in designing experiments, authoring zoology books, and publishing numerous papers.

Ernest passed away from pancreatic cancer at 58 in 1941.

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