The Vast Wonder of the World

This is the story of biologist Dr. Ernest Everett Just. Before he became a preeminent research scientist, he was born into the segregated southern United States in 1883. His mother, a schoolteacher, taught him to read, and he spent much of his youth observing the world around him. Although faced with many life-altering hardships, including severe illness, his parent’s sudden death, and racial discrimination, a chance encounter with microscopes in a biology class changed the course of his college career. Everett continued his education to the highest level, becoming a biology professor. His research pushed the limitations of scientific thought, and Dr. Just led the way to a better understanding of egg fertilization. In the United States, Dr. Just still faced unfair treatment, fewer opportunities for expansion, limited funding, and outright racial discrimination. Exhausted with such limitations, Dr. Ernest Everett Just intentionally decided to leave the United States. This decision would expand his scientific endeavors and expose him to a better understanding of the world without discrimination.