National Scientist Bienvenido Juliano passes away

MANILA, Philippines — The National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) announced yesterday the passing last Feb. 21 of National Scientist Bienvenido Juliano, known Filipino expert on organic Chemistry.

NAST joins the science community in mourning the demise of Juliano, who had outstanding contributions to chemistry and technology of rice production. 

Over 32 years as a chemist, Juliano worked for the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) where he studied the differences between varieties of rice. 

Juliano completed his B.S. Agriculture from the University of the Philippines Los Baños magna cum laude (1955).

He finished his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the Ohio State University in 1958 and 1959, respectively. He was the youngest Ph.D. graduate of the university at the age of 22.

He was author and co-author of more than 370 scientific papers on rice chemistry and technology.

He edited and contributed to several chapters of the 2nd edition of the American Association of Cereal Chemists (AACC) monograph “Rice Chemistry and Technology” in 1985, wrote “Rice in Human Nutrition” for the FAO in 1993 and “Rice Chemistry and Quality” for PhilRice in 2003.

He was an M.S. and Ph.D. theses adviser to several scholars, fellows and research assistants, a number of postdoctoral fellows and visiting scientists who did research in his laboratory.

He also produced competent IRRI laboratory trained chemists from national rice breeding programs of many countries.