Career Milestones
"Bean soup" (1942)
Even
as he became a major player in the lucrative human sex hormone game, Julian
continued his work with the soybean. In fact, the soy protein he developed as a
paper coating for Glidden ended up playing a key role in saving lives during
World War II. Glidden had shipped some of Julian's protein to a Pennsylvania
company, which used it to develop a fire-fighting product called Aero-Foam.
During the war, the United States Navy applied the foam to oil and gas fires on
board aircraft carriers and other ships, effectively saving thousands of
sailors from serious injury or death. Affectionately nicknamed "bean soup," Aero-Foam, like later foaming agents, worked by floating
on top of a burning liquid, breaking contact between the flames and the fuel's
surface.