"St.Elmo Brady" [December 22,1884-December 25,1966]

He was born in Louisville Kentucky.Greatly influence by Thomas V.Talley,a

pioneer in the teaching of science,St.Elmo received his bachelor's Degree from Fisk University in 1908 and immediately began teaching at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.His outstanding abilities were acknowledge in 1912 when he was offered a scholarship to Illinois to engage in graduate studies.Many years later,he told his students when he went to graduate school,"they began with 20 whites and one other and ended,in 1916 with six whites and one other."During his time,in Illinois,St.Elmo became the first African American admitted to Phi Lambda Upsilon the chemistry honor socirty (1914) and was one of the first to be inducted into Sigma Xi,the science honorary society (1915).In November 1916,The Crisis--monthly magazine of NAACP selected him for its biographical sketch as "Man of the Month."St.Elmo published three scholarly abstracts in Science in 1914-15 on his work with Derrick.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 three monographs on Household Chemistry for Girls.He was one of the first African American to obtain a Ph.D. degree in chemistry in the U.S.He received the Ph.D in chemistry at the University of Illinois in 1916 for work done in Noyes Laboratory.St.Elmo legacy was his establishment of strong and undergraduate curricula,graduate programs,and fund raising development four historically African American colleges & universities in conjuction with faculty from the University of Illinois,he established a summer program in frared spectroscopy,which was open to faculty from all colleges & universities.He served Tuskegee (1916-1920),Howard University in Washington D.C. (1920-27),Fisk University (1927-52),and Tougaloo College.St.Elmo married Myrtle Travers and they had two sons,Robert and St.Elmo Brady,Jr.