Ernest Everett Just (1883-1941): Hero in Cell Biology and Evolutionary Bioethics

Ernest Everett Just is celebrated for his contributions to cell biology. Among other firsts, he was first to describe the "wave of negativity" spreading around an egg cell from the entrance point of the fertilizing spermatozoon. His accomplishments in biology are celebrated in Black Apollo of Science (1983) by Kenneth Manning, and by a 1996 Black Heritage postage stamp. What is not yet widely appreciated, however, is that Just connected evolutionary biology to ethical behavior (1933, 1939, 1940). He was probably the first cell biologist to argue that human ethical behavior evolved from our very most primitive cellular origins. Today, Just's contributions to evolutionary bioethics, including "the law of environmental dependence," can be better appreciated because his unpublished booklength manuscript, "The Origin of Man's Ethical Behavior" has been preserved at Howard University's Moorland-Spingarn Research Center.