Henry cecil ransom mcbay biography channel

His parents only had seventh-grade educations, but they had high expectations with regard to education for their children. Henry was the second of five children and all of them eventually received college degrees. His father began as a barber, and through self-study and the help of a local undertaker he passed the Texas state examination for licensed embalmers.

He then opened a funeral home with an older brother. The following year he started a drugstore with a younger brother.

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The discovery of oil under the city of Mexia in the early decades of the twentieth century made the town wealthy enough to provide an excellent high school education for African American students. In particular, the high school had outstanding teachers in the areas of science and mathematics, subjects in which Henry McBay excelled. Henry also took advantage of the well coached football team and, as quarterback, led the team to a championship in the school's regional conference tournament.

During his study at Wiley, he worked part-time, for the first two years in the dining hall, and for the last two years at the college post office. McBay had excellent teachers in the subjects that interested him most: science and mathematics. During many courses with these teachers, he became aware of organic chemistry and the possibilities associated with having a career in this area.

He quickly realized that to do so required additional education. After graduating from Wiley College inwith highest academic honors, McBay entered the graduate chemistry program at Atlanta University.

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There he worked under Kimuel A. Huggins on a research project concerned with creating new forms of plastics having properties similar to those of natural rubber. InMcBay completed the requirements for the master's degree; that same year Professor Huggins received his doctorate in organic chemistry from the University of Chicago. The primary reason for not continuing his graduate education was lack of funds.

Another restriction was that his parents expected his help in financing the college expenses of his younger brother and sister. However, inhe enrolled at the University of Chicago as a summer student and took a course taught by the chairman of the chemistry department. McBay was one of the outstanding students in the course.

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From toMcBay was invited to work on a research team at the Carver Foundation of Tuskegee Institute, which was searching for a substitute material for the fiber obtained from jute, a plant native to India, but now in short supply because of the outbreak of World War II. The team focused on okra as a possible replacement. However, after a year of work, the idea was abandoned and McBay's position there ended in McBay wrote to the University of Chicago and requested admittance to the graduate program in chemistry as a full time doctoral student.

Although their response was noncommittal, he appeared on campus in September and was given the positionof departmental assistant. This job was essentially reserved for racial minorities since it prevented blacks from having direct authority over white students. However, several advantages did accrue with the position: it carried a stipend, allowed experience to be obtained in various laboratory techniques, and provided a military draft deferment.

Their most important development was to synthesize from acetyl peroxide, a protein that proved to be useful in the treatment of prostate cancer. At this point, they were shooting people in Belgium [Battle of the Bulge]. InDr. McBay joined the faculty at Morehouse College, and inhe was named chair of the Chemistry department there. Instead he focused on turning out the best African American chemists in the country.

For years, he sought out talented blacks with degrees in Chemistry and then helped them along their career paths, either by getting them into a doctoral programs or getting them a prestigious at a historically black college. Over 50 chemistry majors under his tutelage went on to earn doctoral and medical degrees, many of whom went on to become important chemists and educators in their own right.

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Henry cecil ransom mcbay biography channel: Henry Ransom Cecil McBay,

American scientist This article includes a list of general referencesbut it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. April Learn how and when to remove this message. McBay, left, and physicist Ronald E. MexiaTexasUnited States. Shirley Ann Mathis. Family [ edit ].

Inhe was appointed chairman of the chemistry department. In McBay became the Fuller E. Callaway Professor of Chemistry at Atlanta University. He taught part-time until his death in He regularly demonstrated how two materials could be combined to produce something with completely different properties.