Carl Djerassi

Carl Djerassi (born October 29, 1923 in Vienna, Austria), is a chemist and playwright best known for his contribution to the development of the oral contraceptive pill (OCP). He participated in the invention in 1951, together with Mexicans Luis E. Miramontes and Jorge Rosenkranz, of synthetic progesterone (norethindrone and norethynodrel) which, unlike natural progesterone, remained effective when taken orally and was far stronger than the natural version. His preparation was first administered as an oral contraceptive by Gregory Pincus, John Rock, and Min-Cheuh Chang. Djerassi remarked that he did not have birth control in mind when he began working with progesterone - "not in our wildest dreams... did we imagine (it)", though he is now referred to by some as the father of the pill. He is also the author of the novel Cantor's Dilemma, in which he explores the ethics of modern scientific research through his protagonist, Dr. Cantor.

The social impact of the pill was anticipated by Dr. Carl Djerassi. He perceived the pill as a huge impact on the social processes of women and men, which to a significant extent is influenced through the sociobiology of sexual reproduction. He anticipated a far more social impact on men than on women, in what he called as the feminization of men, implying the "Social-feminization" of laws and social values as a whole.

Born in Vienna to a Jewish family, Djerassi fled to Bulgaria in 1939, in order to escape the Nazi regime. In 1941 he moved to the United States. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Kenyon College (B.A. in organic chemistry, 1942) and from the University of Wisconsin (Ph.D., 1945). From 1952 to 1959, Djerassi taught chemistry at Wayne State University. Since 1959, Djerassi has been a professor of chemistry at Stanford University and the president of Syntex Laboratories in Mexico City, Mexico. He is married to writer and former Stanford professor Diane Middlebrook.

Awards and honors

In 1978, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. In 1991 he was awarded the National Medal of Technology for "his broad technological contributions to solving environmental problems; and for his initiatives in developing novel, practical approaches to insect control products that are biodegradable and harmless."

Books

Non-fiction

Optical Rotatory Dispersion, McGraw-Hill & Company, 1960.
The Politics of Contraception, W H Freeman & Company, 1981, ISBN 071671342X
Carl Djerassi: Steroids Made it Possible (Profiles, Pathways, and Dreams), American Chemical Society, 1990, ISBN 0841217734
The Pill, Pygmy Chimps, and Degas' Horse, Basic Books, 1992, ISBN 0465057586, (autobiography)
From the Lab into The World: A Pill for People, Pets, and Bugs, American Chemical Society, 1994, ISBN 0841228086
Paul Klee: Masterpieces of the Djerassi Collection, (coeditor), Prestel Publishing, 2002, ISBN 3791327798
This Man's Pill: Reflections on the 50th Birthday of the Pill , Oxford University Press, USA, 2004, ISBN 0198606958

Fiction

Futurist and Other Stories, Macdonald, 1989, ISBN 0356175006
The Clock Runs Backwards, Story Line Press, 1991, ISBN 0934257752
Marx, Deceased, University of Georgia Press, 1996, ISBN 0820318353

Science-in-fiction

Cantor's Dilemma, Penguin, 1989, ISBN 0140143599
The Bourbaki Gambit, Penguin, 1994, ISBN 0140254854
Menachem's Seed, Penguin, 1996, ISBN 0140277943
NO, Penguin, 1998, ISBN 0140296549

Drama

An Immaculate Misconception: Sex in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Imperial College Press, 2000, ISBN 1860942482 (adapted from the novel, Menachem's Seed)
- L.A. Theatre Works, Audio Theatre Collection CD, 2004, ISBN 1580812864
Oxygen, Wiley-VCH, {with Roald Hoffmann, coauthor), 2001, ISBN 3527304134
Newton's Darkness: Two Dramatic Views, (with David Pinner, coauthor), Imperial College Press, 2004, ISBN 186094390X

External links

References

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