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Carl Djerassi: ‘father of the where he held concurrent senior appointments in industry. He was very pill’ and renaissance man active in international debates on the implications of contraceptive services for humanity: he used a computer Born on 29 October 1923 in , analogy to differentiate between his Carl Djerassi died peacefully at home role in the development of contracep- from complications of cancer on 30 tive methods (the ‘hardware’) and the January 2015. He was considered by socioeconomic, cultural, religious and many to be the ‘father of the pill’ political considerations for their actual because his 1951 synthesis of norethin- utilisation (the ‘software’). drone () was the initial Norethisterone continues today to be step in the development of oral contra- the mainstay for the compo- ceptives. He was also known as an art nent of oral contraceptives and moreover, limits of topics within their specialty. collector, novelist, playwright and most other progestogens used for contra- Having won much public respect for philanthropist. ception resulted from minor chemical his scientific achievements, at the age of modifications. It is noteworthy that the 62 years he diversified into creative MOVING TO AMERICA research activities of Djerassi’s original writing. He made his name as an Having an Austrian mother and team were not specifically focused on author by incorporating themes from Bulgarian father, both medical doctors oral contraception. This was being inves- his personal experience as a scientist and Jewish, Djerassi fled Vienna in 1938 tigated simultaneously and independently into his fiction as exemplified by novels due to the Nazi Anschluss, and in in Massachusetts by the biologist Gregory such as Cantor’s Dilemmas, The December 1939 arrived in Pincus in collaboration with John Rock, a Bourbaki Gambit and Menachem’s with his divorced mother aged 16 and Catholic gynaecologist, who justified the Seeds, and plays such as An Immaculate almost penniless. A personal request to application of modern forms of naturally Misconception, Oxygen and Phallacy. Eleanor Roosevelt for a higher education occurring sex as merely scholarship was successful: he graduated prolonging the safe period – a variant of in chemistry within 3 years and the thesis the rhythm method. These “big three PHILANTHROPY ” for his doctoral degree at the University males have, at one time or another, each Djerassi accumulated massive wealth ‘ of Wisconsin in 1945 was on the synthe- been perceived as being the father of the through the exponential increase in ’ copyright. sis of estrogens from androgens. pill . But Djerassi denied paternity: the value of his stock in and feeling that birth was more important became an avid art collector of CAREER AS A than conception, he preferred to be modern art. As an expert on , ‘ ’ The industrial production of known as the mother of the pill .He Djerassi compiled two complementary had become a priority with its use in went much further by crediting Ludwig sets of this artist’s works that he the treatment of inflammatory diseases, Haberlandt, from Innsbruck in Austria, donated to the Albertina in Vienna ‘ ’ particularly rheumatoid arthritis. In with the title of grandfather of the pill and the Museum of 1949, Djerassi was headhunted by for having demonstrated, in 1921, the Modern Art. Syntex, a small company that wanted value of for contraception, He built a 1200-acre cattle ranch with to produce cortisone from thereby attracting the pharmaceutical ocean views near San Francisco and found in Mexican wild yam roots. He industry to contraceptive development named it SMIP: ‘ Made It seized the opportunity to work in long before World War II. Possible’. He initiated the Djerassi http://jfprhc.bmj.com/ on the synthesis of Djerassi was presented with the Resident Artists Program by converting hormones, which then was cutting-edge National Medal of Science by President the ranch into an artists’ colony to host research. Having rapidly managed to in 1973, despite being individuals on month-long residencies. ’ synthesise not only cortisone but also named on Nixon s blacklist of political Undoubtedly, Carl Djerassi will be estrone and , in 1951 his focus enemies who opposed the war in honoured by many initiatives, and switched to the synthesis of oral pro- Vietnam. There is a widespread feeling of indeed within days of his death, there regret that Djerassi did not receive a gestogens by exploring the value of was the somewhat idiosyncratic sugges- on September 28, 2021 by guest. Protected strophanthidin, a poison used for Nobel Prize whether for chemistry, medi- tion of raising funds from grateful arrows in Africa. Progress was so swift cine or even peace in recognition of his American college students to erect a that the application for the patent for key role in averting the global population memorial monument on the National the production of norethisterone, as an bomb. This situation reflects poorly on Mall in Washington DC, in an area with orally active formulation, was submit- the Nobel Committees rather than on the proposed name of ‘Djerassic Park’. ted in November 1951 and the related Djerassi’s achievements, though the scientific article published in 1952. contraceptive movement could have been Lindsay Edouard, FFSRH, FRCOG ’ more proactive in the nomination process. Djerassi s academic career began at International Advisory Editor, Port Louis, Mauritius; in in [email protected] January 1952, 3 months after his syn- thesis of norethisterone. Seven years FROM PILL TO PLAYS later, he moved permanently to Djerassi felt strongly that scientists in California, should not be confined to the narrow

158 Edouard L. J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 2015;41:158. doi:10.1136/jfprhc-2015-101206