[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 23 (Tuesday, February 9, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H641]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          BLACK HISTORY MONTH

  (Mr. FOSTER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. FOSTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor St. Elmo Brady. He was the 
first African American to obtain a Ph.D. degree in chemistry in the 
United States. He received a Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of 
Illinois in 1916 for work done at the Noyes Laboratory. Dr. Brady was a 
pioneer in the teaching of science at both Tuskegee University and at 
Howard University in Washington, D.C.
  His research included work on determining the structure of organic 
acids, methods of determining properties of alkaloids and infrared 
spectroscopy. This later research resulted in the formation of the Fisk 
Infrared Spectroscopy Research Laboratory and the Fisk Infrared 
Institute. In conjunction with faculty from the University of Illinois, 
Dr. Brady also established a summer program in infrared spectroscopy, 
which was open to faculty from all colleges and universities.
  Dr. Brady is just one of the many African American pioneering 
scientists whose work should be lifted up as the role model that it is, 
not just during Black History Month, but all year round.

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