Ernest Everett Just
August 14, 1883 - October 27, 1941
First black marine biologist
He worked at the marine biological laboratory in Woods hole Massachusetts for nearly 20 years.
Received a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Making him one of the first Black men to receive a doctoral degree from a major university in the U.S. His first research centered around eggs of common sand dollars and sea urchins.
He was the inaugural recipient of the Spingarn medal given to him by the NAACP for “outstanding achievement by a Black American. Just’s accomplishments and contribution to our understanding of the physiology of development and in particular that of marine invertebrates are unmatched.
Kendall Antonio Cassar, Senior