Carl Djerassi (October 29, 1923 – January 30, 2015) was an Austrian-born Bulgarian-American pharmaceutical
chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...
, novelist, playwright and co-founder of Djerassi Resident Artists Program with
Diane Wood Middlebrook
Diane Helen Middlebrook ( Wood; April 16, 1939 – December 15, 2007) Cynthia Haven"Diane Middlebrook, professor emeritus and legendary biographer, dies at 68" ''Stanford Report'', December 15, 2007. was an American biographer, poet, and tea ...
. He is best known for his contribution to the development of
oral contraceptive pill Oral contraceptives, abbreviated OCPs, also known as birth control pills, are medications taken by mouth for the purpose of birth control.
Female
Two types of female oral contraceptive pill, taken once per day, are widely available:
* The combin ...
s,
[Ball P (2015) "Carl Djerassi", ]Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
519(7541), 34. nicknamed the "father of the pill".
Early life
Carl Djerassi was born in Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, Austria, but spent the first years of his infancy in Sofia, Bulgaria
Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...
, the home of his father, Samuel Djerassi, a dermatologist and specialist in sexually transmitted diseases.[Weintraub, Bob]
"Pincus, Djerassi and Oral Contraceptives"
''Chemistry in Israel'', Bulletin of the Israel Chemical Society. August 2005, pp. 47–50. His mother was Alice Friedmann, a Viennese dentist and physician. Both parents were Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
.[
Following his parents' divorce, Djerassi and his mother moved to Vienna. Until the age of 14, he attended the same ''realgymnasium'' that ]Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...
had attended many years earlier; he spent summers in Bulgaria with his father.[
Austria refused him citizenship and after the ]Anschluss
The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938.
The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...
, his father briefly remarried his mother in 1938 to allow Carl and his mother to escape the Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
regime and flee to Sofia, Bulgaria, where he lived with his father for a year.[ ]Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
, although not immune to antisemitism, proved a safe haven, as the country managed to save its entire 48,000-strong Jewish population from deportation to Nazi concentration camps. During his time in Sofia, Djerassi attended the American College of Sofia
The American College of Sofia (ACS) (Bulgarian: ) is a school in Bulgaria, located in the capital city of Sofia.
The college was founded in 1860 and is regarded as the oldest American educational institution outside the United States.This title i ...
where he became fluent in English.[
In December 1939, Djerassi arrived with his mother in the United States, nearly penniless. Djerassi's mother worked in a group practice in upstate New York.][ In 1949, his father emigrated to the United States,][ practiced in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and eventually retired near his son in San Francisco.
]
Education
Djerassi started his college career at Newark Junior College after moving to the United States with his mother when he was 16. He previously had attended the American College of Sofia
The American College of Sofia (ACS) (Bulgarian: ) is a school in Bulgaria, located in the capital city of Sofia.
The college was founded in 1860 and is regarded as the oldest American educational institution outside the United States.This title i ...
, a high school in Sofia, Bulgaria, where he became fluent in English. Because of the name of his high school, he was misunderstood and enrolled into Newark Junior College before graduating high school. After a year at Newark Junior College, Djerassi wrote a letter to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...
asking for help with a room and board and tuition scholarship to a four-year college. He received a response from the Institute of International Education
The Institute of International Education (IIE) is a 501(c) organization which focuses on international student exchange and aid, foreign affairs, and international peace and security. IIE creates programs of study and training for students, educa ...
with a full scholarship to Tarkio College
Tarkio College was a college that operated in Tarkio, Missouri, from 1883 to 1992. The institution was supported by the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, followed by the Presbyterian Church (USA).
It was closed after ...
where he briefly attended, and then studied chemistry at Kenyon College
Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio. It was founded in 1824 by Philander Chase. Kenyon College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Kenyon has 1,708 undergraduates enrolled. Its 1,000-acre campus is se ...
, where he graduated ''summa cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
''. After one year at CIBA, he moved to the University of Wisconsin–Madison
A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...
where he earned his PhD in organic chemistry in 1945. His thesis work examined the transformation of the male sex hormone testosterone
Testosterone is the primary sex hormone and anabolic steroid in males. In humans, testosterone plays a key role in the development of Male reproductive system, male reproductive tissues such as testes and prostate, as well as promoting secondar ...
into the female sex hormone estradiol
Estradiol (E2), also spelled oestradiol, is an estrogen steroid hormone and the major female sex hormone. It is involved in the regulation of the estrous and menstrual female reproductive cycles. Estradiol is responsible for the development of f ...
, through a sequence of chemical reactions.
Career
In 1942/43, Djerassi worked for CIBA in New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
, developing Pyribenzamine[ (tripelennamine), his first patent and one of the first commercial ]antihistamines
Antihistamines are drugs which treat allergic rhinitis, common cold, influenza, and other allergies. Typically, people take antihistamines as an inexpensive, generic (not patented) drug that can be bought without a prescription and provides re ...
.
In 1949 Djerassi became associate director of research at Syntex Laboratorios Syntex SA (later Syntex Laboratories, Inc.) was a pharmaceutical company formed in Mexico City in January 1944 by Russell Marker, Emeric Somlo, and Federico Lehmann to manufacture therapeutic steroids from the Mexican yams called ''cabe ...
in Mexico City and remained there through 1951.[ He has said that one factor influencing him to choose Syntex was that they had a ]DU spectrophotometer
The DU spectrophotometer or Beckman DU, introduced in 1941, was the first commercially viable scientific instrument for measuring the amount of ultraviolet light absorbed by a substance. This model of spectrophotometer enabled scientists to eas ...
. He worked on a new synthesis of cortisone
Cortisone is a pregnene (21-carbon) steroid hormone. It is a naturally-occurring corticosteroid metabolite that is also used as a pharmaceutical prodrug; it is not synthesized in the adrenal glands. Cortisol is converted by the action of the enzy ...
based on diosgenin, a steroid
A steroid is a biologically active organic compound with four rings arranged in a specific molecular configuration. Steroids have two principal biological functions: as important components of cell membranes that alter membrane fluidity; and a ...
sapogenin
Sapogenins are the aglycones, or non-saccharide, portions of the family of natural products known as saponins. Sapogenins contain steroid or other triterpene frameworks as their key organic feature. For example, steroidal sapogenins such as tigge ...
derived from a Mexican wild yam. His team later synthesized norethisterone
Norethisterone, also known as norethindrone and sold under many brand names, is a progestin medication used in birth control pills, menopausal hormone therapy, and for the treatment of gynecological disorders. The medication is available in both ...
(norethindrone), the first highly active progestin
A progestogen, also referred to as a progestagen, gestagen, or gestogen, is a type of medication which produces effects similar to those of the natural product, natural female sex hormone progesterone in the body. A progestin is a ''synthetic co ...
analogue that was effective when taken by mouth. This became part of one of the first successful combined oral contraceptive pills, known colloquially as the birth-control pill, or simply, the Pill
The combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP), often referred to as the birth control pill or colloquially as "the pill", is a type of birth control that is designed to be taken orally by women. The pill contains two important hormones: proges ...
. From 1952 to 1959 he was professor of chemistry at Wayne State University
Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...
in Detroit.[
Djerassi participated in the invention in 1951, together with Mexican ]Luis E. Miramontes
Luis Ernesto Miramontes Cárdenas (March 16, 1925 – September 13, 2004) was a Mexican chemist known as the co-inventor of the progestin norethisterone used in one of the first three oral contraceptives.
Miramontes was born in Tepic, Nayarit ...
and Hungarian-Mexican George Rosenkranz
George Rosenkranz (born György Rosenkranz; 20 August 1916 – 23 June 2019) was a pioneering Mexican scientist in the field of steroid chemistry, who used native Mexican plant sources as raw materials. He was born in Hungary, studied in Switzerl ...
, of the progestin
A progestogen, also referred to as a progestagen, gestagen, or gestogen, is a type of medication which produces effects similar to those of the natural product, natural female sex hormone progesterone in the body. A progestin is a ''synthetic co ...
norethisterone
Norethisterone, also known as norethindrone and sold under many brand names, is a progestin medication used in birth control pills, menopausal hormone therapy, and for the treatment of gynecological disorders. The medication is available in both ...
—which, unlike progesterone
Progesterone (P4) is an endogenous steroid and progestogen sex hormone involved in the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and embryogenesis of humans and other species. It belongs to a group of steroid hormones called the progestogens and is the m ...
, remained effective when taken orally and was far stronger than the naturally occurring hormone
A hormone (from the Greek participle , "setting in motion") is a class of signaling molecules in multicellular organisms that are sent to distant organs by complex biological processes to regulate physiology and behavior. Hormones are required ...
. His preparation was first administered as an oral contraceptive to animals by Gregory Goodwin Pincus
Gregory Goodwin Pincus (April 9, 1903 – August 22, 1967) was an American biologist and researcher who co-invented the combined oral contraceptive pill.
Early life
Gregory Goodwin Pincus was born in Woodbine, New Jersey to Jewish parents, who we ...
and Min Chueh Chang
Min Chueh Chang (, October 10, 1908 – June 5, 1991), often credited as M.C. Chang, was a Chinese-American reproductive biologist. His specific area of study was the fertilisation process in mammalian reproduction. Though his career produced ...
and to women by John Rock.
In 1957, he became vice president of research at Syntex in Mexico City while on leave of absence from Wayne State. In 1960 Djerassi became a professor of chemistry at Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
,[ a position he held until 2002 but only part-time as he never left industry.] From 1968 until 1972 he also served as president of Syntex Research at Palo Alto
Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto.
The city was estab ...
.[
The Syntex connection brought wealth to Djerassi. He bought a large tract of land in ]Woodside, California
Woodside is a small incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. Woodside is among the wealthiest communities in the United States, home to many technology billionaires and investment manager ...
, and started a cattle ranch called SMIP. (Initially an acronym for "Syntex Made It Possible", other variants have been suggested since.) He also assembled a large art collection. His collection of works by Paul Klee
Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...
was considered to be one of the most significant to be privately held. He arranged for his Klee collections to be donated to the Albertina
The Albertina is a museum in the Innere Stadt (First District) of Vienna, Austria. It houses one of the largest and most important print rooms in the world with approximately 65,000 drawings and approximately 1 million old master prints, as well ...
in Vienna and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...
, effective on his death.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Djerassi continued to do significant scientific work, as a professor in the Department of Chemistry at Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
, and as an entrepreneur. He pioneered novel physical research techniques for mass spectrometry
Mass spectrometry (MS) is an analytical technique that is used to measure the mass-to-charge ratio of ions. The results are presented as a ''mass spectrum'', a plot of intensity as a function of the mass-to-charge ratio. Mass spectrometry is use ...
and optical rotatory dispersion
Optical rotatory dispersion is the variation in the optical rotation of a substance with a change in the wavelength of light. Optical rotatory dispersion can be used to find the absolute configuration of metal complexes. For example, when plane-pol ...
and applied them to the areas of organic chemistry
Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clayden, J.; ...
and the life sciences.[ Focusing on the steroid hormones and alkaloids, he elucidated the structure of steroids, an area in which he published over 1,200 papers.][ His scientific interests were wide-ranging, and his technological achievements include work in instrumentation, pharmaceuticals, insect control, the application of artificial intelligence in biomedical research, and the biology and chemistry of marine organisms.][
In 1968, he started a new company, Zoecon,][ which focused on environmentally soft methods of ]pest control
Pest control is the regulation or management of a species defined as a pest; any animal, plant or fungus that impacts adversely on human activities or environment. The human response depends on the importance of the damage done and will range ...
, using modified insect growth hormones to stop insects from metamorphosing from the larval stage to the pupa
A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...
l and adult stages. Zoecon was eventually acquired by Occidental Petroleum
Occidental Petroleum Corporation (often abbreviated Oxy in reference to its ticker symbol and logo) is an American company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration in the United States, and the Middle East as well as petrochemical manufacturing in the ...
, which later sold it to Sandoz
Novartis AG is a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and
Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (global research).name="novartis.com">https://www.novartis.com/research-development/research-loc ...
, now Novartis
Novartis AG is a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and
Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (global research).name="novartis.com">https://www.novartis.com/research-development/research-loc ...
. Part of Zoecon survives in Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
, Texas, making products to control flea
Flea, the common name for the order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult fleas grow to about long, a ...
s and other pests.
In 1965 at Stanford University, nobel laureate Joshua Lederberg
Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. 'Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...
, computer scientist Edward Feigenbaum
Edward Albert Feigenbaum (born January 20, 1936) is a computer scientist working in the field of artificial intelligence, and joint winner of the 1994 Association for Computing Machinery, ACM Turing Award. He is often called the "father of expert ...
, and Djerassi devised the computer program DENDRAL Dendral was a project in artificial intelligence (AI) of the 1960s, and the computer software expert system that it produced. Its primary aim was to study hypothesis formation and discovery in science. For that, a specific task in science was chose ...
(dendritic algorithm) for the elucidation of the molecular structure of unknown organic compounds taken from known groups of such compounds, such as the alkaloids and the steroids. This was a prototype for expert system
In artificial intelligence, an expert system is a computer system emulating the decision-making ability of a human expert.
Expert systems are designed to solve complex problems by reasoning through bodies of knowledge, represented mainly as if ...
s and one of the first uses of artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...
in biomedical research.
Djerassi was a member of the Board of Sponsors of the ''Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
The ''Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists'' is a nonprofit organization concerning science and global security issues resulting from accelerating technological advances that have negative consequences for humanity. The ''Bulletin'' publishes conte ...
'' and was chairman of the Pharmanex Scientific Advisory Board.
Publications
Djerassi published widely as a novelist, playwright and scientist. In 1985, Djerassi said "I feel like I'd like to lead one more life. I'd like to leave a cultural imprint on society rather than just a technological benefit."
He went on to write several novels in the "science-in-fiction" genre, including ''Cantor's Dilemma'',[ in which he explored the ethics of modern scientific research through his protagonist, Dr. Cantor. He also wrote four autobiographies, the most recent of which, ''In Retrospect'' appeared in 2014.][ He wrote a number of plays which have been performed and extensively translated.][ His book ''Chemistry in Theatre: Insufficiency, Phallacy or Both'' discusses the potential pedagogic value of using dialogic style and the plot structure of plays with special focus on chemistry.]
Science-in-fiction
Djerassi wrote five novels, four of which he describes as "science-in-fiction", fiction which portrays the lives of real scientists, with all their accomplishments, conflicts, and aspirations. The genre is also referred to as Lab lit Lab lit (also "lablit") is a loosely defined genre of fiction, distinct from science fiction, that centers on realistic portrayals of scientists and on science as a profession.
Definition
Unlike science fiction, lab lit is generally set in some ...
.
In his first two novels, ''Cantor's Dilemma'' and ''Bourbaki Gambit'', he shows how scientists work and think. In ''Cantor's Dilemma'', there is the suspicion of scientific fraud; in ''Bourbaki Gambit'' the question of personal achievement stands in the center. In the third, ''Menachem's Seed'', ICSI ICSI may refer to:
* Intracytoplasmic sperm injection, a medical technique used in assisted reproduction
* International Computer Science Institute, a non-profit research lab in Berkeley, California
* Institute of Company Secretaries of India
...
and the Pugwash organization are the main themes. In the last, ''NO'', he shows how young scientists develop an idea as far as founding a company to market a product – something Djerassi himself did in the field of insecticides.
The topic of the fifth novel, ''Marx Deceased'', is the role of a writer's earlier bestsellers for the assessment of a new work – in contrast to the assessment of an anonymous work or one of a formerly unknown author. He plays with this topic also in ''Bourbaki Gambit''.
Science-in-theatre
After his success with prose literature in the Science-in-Fiction genre, Carl Djerassi started to write plays. Theatre, even more so than prose, seemed to fulfill his desire to work in a more “dialogical” environment than the monological natural sciences had allowed him to do. According to British director Andy Jordan, who has produced all of his plays in England, Djerassi's dramatic works are “not wholly or straightforwardly naturalistic or realistic butavowedly text-driven, where ideas, themes, words and language were majorly important, a fact I had always to be conscious of as the director.” [Andi Jordan, "Carl Djerassi's Science-in-Theatre Plays: The Theatrical Realization," in: Walter Grünzweig, ed., ''The SciArtist: Carl Djerassi's Science-in-Literature in Transatlantic and Interdisciplinary Contexts'', Berlin et al.: Lit Verlag, 2012, p. 119.]
Djerassi's first play, ''An Immaculate Misconception'' (1998), dealing with the in vitro fertilization procedure ICSI, was followed by two plays about priority struggles in the history of science, ''Oxygen'' (co-authored with Roald Hoffmann
Roald Hoffmann (born Roald Safran; July 18, 1937) is a Polish Americans, Polish-American theoretical chemistry, theoretical chemist who won the 1981 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He has also published plays and poetry. He is the Frank H. T. Rhodes P ...
, 1999) and ''Calculus'' (2002), and a drama at the intersection of chemistry and art history, ''Phallacy'' (2004). ''Ego'' (2003, also produced under the title ''Three on a Couch''),[Walter Grünzweig, ed., ''The SciArtist: Carl Djerassi's Science-in-Literature in Transatlantic and Interdisciplinary Contexts'', Berlin et al.: Lit Verlag, 2012.] together with the docudrama ''Four Jews on Parnassus'' (2006, publ. 2008) and ''Foreplay'' (2010),[ are the only three dramatic pieces which do not deal with science-in-literature but rather carry the notion of intellectual competitiveness into literature, philosophy and the humanities. ''Taboos'' (2006), a complex play between reproductive, gender and political issues, returns to Djerassi's central concerns as a scientist;] his 2012 play ''Insufficiency'' is a bitter satire of both the scientific community and academic environments.[ '' ICSI, sex in the age of mechanical reproduction'' (2002), was taken to theaters and also to classrooms as a pedagogic wordplay, in many countries, including Spain and Argentina (by collaboration with Dr Àgata Baizán and Alberto Diaz) where it opened the VIII Latinoamerican and Caribbean Biotechnology meeting REDBIO-Argentina 2013 and featured in universities and theaters.
As in his novels, Djerassi's plays incorporate the life and achievements of (sometimes famous) scientists as well as new scientific technologies. The science in his plays is always scientifically plausible although the dramatic personae and locations are fictitious.] By placing scientists and research into dramatic worlds, he raises critical questions about the sciences as cultural systems and looks into internal conflicts and contradictions in science and between scientists. The constant competition between them, the need for priority in new scientific discoveries even if the required speed necessitates risky and immoral means, as well as the problematic consequences of new discoveries are important topics of the plays.
Connected with many of these questions is the role of women in the sciences (including researchers’ wives and female friends). Djerassi's plays recognize the special contributions women make as scientists and to science, both directly and indirectly. His female characters are usually depicted as strong and independent, proving a strong impact of feminist thinking on his work.
Djerassi's plays have found their way into theaters around the globe and have been translated into a large number of European and Asian languages.[ Djerassi repeatedly revised his plays and some of them have different versions and multiple endings] (especially "An Immaculate Misconception": the nationalities of the main characters vary, also the endings). Where possible, Carl Djerassi also cooperated with directors in the production of dramatic performances. All of his plays have been published in book form, many of them in a number of languages. Some of them can be downloaded from his website.
Poetry
Djerassi wrote numerous poems that were published in journals or anthologies. Some of the poems reflected his life as a chemist (e.g. ''Why are chemists not poets'' or ''The clock runs backwards''), others his personal life (e.g. ''A Diary of Pique'').
Non-fiction
*''Optical Rotatory Dispersion'', McGraw-Hill & Company, 1960.
*''The Politics of Contraception''
*''Steroids Made it Possible''
*''The Pill, Pygmy Chimps, and Degas' Horse''
*''From the Lab into The World: A Pill for People, Pets, and Bugs''
*''Paul Klee: Masterpieces of the Djerassi Collection''
*''Dalla pillola alla penna''
*''This Man's Pill: Reflections on the 50th Birthday of the Pill''
*''In Retrospect : From the Pill to the Pen''
Fiction
* ''Cantor's Dilemma'', 1989[''Cantor's Dilemma'', Penguin, 1989. ]
* ''The Bourbaki Gambit'', 1994
* ''The Futurist and Other Stories''
* ''How I Beat Coca-Cola and Other Tales of One-Upmanship''
* ''Marx, Deceased. A Novel'', 1996
* ''Menachem's Seed. A Novel'', 1997
* ''NO. A Novel'', 1998
Drama
*''Chemistry in Theatre: Insufficiency, Phallacy or Both''
*''Foreplay: Hannah Arendt, the Two Adornos, and Walter Benjamin''
*''Four Jews on Parnassus
Mount Parnassus (; el, Παρνασσός, ''Parnassós'') is a mountain range of central Greece that is and historically has been especially valuable to the Greek nation and the earlier Greek city-states for many reasons. In peace, it offers ...
''
*''An Immaculate Misconception: Sex in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction''[''An Immaculate Misconception: Sex in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction'', London: Imperial College Press, 2000. (adapted from the novel ''Menachem's Seed'')]
**L.A. Theatre Works
* ''Oxygen'' (with Roald Hoffmann
Roald Hoffmann (born Roald Safran; July 18, 1937) is a Polish Americans, Polish-American theoretical chemistry, theoretical chemist who won the 1981 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He has also published plays and poetry. He is the Frank H. T. Rhodes P ...
, coauthor)
*''Newton's Darkness: Two Dramatic Views''
*''Sex in an Age of Technological Reproduction: ICSI ICSI may refer to:
* Intracytoplasmic sperm injection, a medical technique used in assisted reproduction
* International Computer Science Institute, a non-profit research lab in Berkeley, California
* Institute of Company Secretaries of India
...
and TABOOS'' translated to Spanish and brought to scene by Dr. Àgata Baizán
Awards and honors
Djerassi won numerous awards during his career including:
*Ernest Guenther Award
The Ernest Guenther Award in the Chemistry of Natural Products is an American Chemical Society (ACS) award in the field of the chemistry of natural products. The purpose of the award is to recognize and encourage outstanding achievements in the ana ...
in Chemistry and Natural Products by the American Chemical Society
The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all d ...
(1960)
* Scheele Award
The Scheele Award () is a scientific award given by the Swedish , an organisation mainly consisting of pharmacists. The award is given to commemorate the pharmacist and chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele (1742–1786) and has been appointed since 1961, i ...
(1972)
* National Medal of Science
The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social scienc ...
(President of the United States of America, 1973) for his work on the contraceptive pill (The award was somewhat ironic in that his name at the time was on the infamous "Nixon's enemies list
"Nixon's Enemies List" is the informal name of what started as a list of President of the United States Richard Nixon's major political opponents compiled by Charles Colson, written by George T. Bell (assistant to Colson, White House Counsel, sp ...
", which was compiled by Charles Colson
Charles Wendell Colson (October 16, 1931 – April 21, 2012), generally referred to as Chuck Colson, was an American attorney and political advisor who served as Special Counsel to President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1970. Once known as Pr ...
and Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
. He learned this from an article in the ''San Francisco Examiner
The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and published since 1863.
Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst, and flagship of the Hearst Corporat ...
'', several months later.)
* Perkin Medal
The Perkin Medal is an award given annually by the Society of Chemical Industry (American Section) to a scientist residing in America for an "innovation in applied chemistry resulting in outstanding commercial development." It is considered the ...
(1975)
* Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame
The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) is an American not-for-profit organization, founded in 1973, which recognizes individual engineers and inventors who hold a U.S. patent of significant technology. Besides the Hall of Fame, it also opera ...
(1978)
* First recipient of the Wolf Prize
The Wolf Prize is an international award granted in Israel, that has been presented most years since 1978 to living scientists and artists for ''"achievements in the interest of mankind and friendly relations among people ... irrespective of natio ...
, 1978[
* ]National Medal of Technology
The National Medal of Technology and Innovation (formerly the National Medal of Technology) is an honor granted by the President of the United States to American inventors and innovators who have made significant contributions to the development ...
(President of the United States of America, 1991) 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"
*Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement
The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet o ...
(1980)
* Priestley Medal
The Priestley Medal is the highest honor conferred by the American Chemical Society (ACS) and is awarded for distinguished service in the field of chemistry. Established in 1922, the award is named after Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen ...
(American Chemical Society
The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all d ...
, 1992)[
* ]Willard Gibbs Award
The Willard Gibbs Award, presented by thChicago Sectionof the American Chemical Society, was established in 1910 by William A. Converse (1862–1940), a former Chairman and Secretary of the Chicago Section of the society and named for Professor Jo ...
(Chicago Section of the American Chemical Society
The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all d ...
., 1997)
* Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class
The Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (german: Österreichisches Ehrenzeichen für Wissenschaft und Kunst) is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria and forms part of the Austrian national honours system.
History
The "Austrian D ...
(1999)
*Othmer Gold Medal
The Othmer Gold Medal recognizes outstanding individuals who contributed to progress in chemistry and science through their activities in areas including innovation, entrepreneurship, research, education, public understanding, legislation, and ph ...
(2000)
* Prize of the German Chemical Society
The German Chemical Society (German: ', GDCh) is a learned society and professional association founded in 1949 to represent the interests of German chemists in local, national and international contexts. GDCh "brings together people working in che ...
for Writers (2001)
* Grand Gold Medal for services to the province of Lower Austria (2002)
* Gold Medal of the capital Vienna (2002)
* (2003)
* Erasmus Medal of the Academia Europaea
The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences.
The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...
(2003)
* American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal
The American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal is the highest award of the American Institute of Chemists
The American Institute of Chemists (AIC) is an organization founded in 1923 with the goal of advancing the chemistry profession in the Uni ...
(2004)
* Lichtenberg Medal
The Lichtenberg Medal (German: Lichtenberg-Medaille) is the highest award of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities. It was established in memory of the Göttingen scholar Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. It has been awarded since 2004 (eve ...
of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences
Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911.
General information
The or ...
(2005)
* Premio letterario Serono in Rome (2005)
* An Austrian postage stamp with Djerassi's portrait, issued to mark his 80th birthday (2005) The Austrian government also sent him a new Austrian passport.
* (2008)
* Honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Humanities of the Technical University of Dortmund
TU Dortmund University (german: Technische Universität Dortmund) is a technical university in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany with over 35,000 students, and over 6,000 staff including 300 professors, offering around 80 Bachelor's an ...
for his literary work (as 21 honorary doctorate) (2009)
* Alecrin Prize (2009, Vigo
Vigo ( , , , ) is a city and Municipalities in Spain, municipality in the province of Pontevedra, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest of the Iberian Penins ...
, Spain)
* Djerassi Glacier on Brabant Island
Brabant Island is the second largest island of the Palmer Archipelago within the British Antarctic Territory, lying between Anvers Island and Liège Island. Brabant Island is long north-south, wide, and rises to in Mount Parry. The interior ...
in Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...
is named after Carl Djerassi (2009).
* Foreign Member of the Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
(2010)
* Edinburgh Medal (2011)
* Honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Chemistry and Geosciences, Heidelberg University
}
Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...
(2011)
* Honorary doctorate from the Porto University (2011)
* Honorary doctorate from the University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...
(2012)
* Honorary doctorate from the Medical University of Vienna
The Medical University of Vienna (German: ''Medizinische Universität Wien'') is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It is the direct successor to the faculty of medicine at the University of Vienna, founded in 1365 by Rudolf IV, Duk ...
(2012)
* Honorary doctorate from the University of Applied Arts, Vienna (2013)
* Honorary doctorate from the Sigmund Freud University, Vienna (2013)
* Honorary doctorate from the American University in Bulgaria
The American University in Bulgaria (or AUBG) is a private university located in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. Established in 1991, today AUBG has about 1,000 students from over 40 countries on 5 continents (as of Fall 2019). Close to 50% of the student ...
(2013)
* Honorary doctorate from the University of Innsbruck
The University of Innsbruck (german: Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck; la, Universitas Leopoldino Franciscea) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669.
...
(2014)
An award that eluded Djerassi was the Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
, where he is considered one of the more notable "snubs" by the Nobel Committee.
Personal life
Djerassi described himself as a "Jewish atheist".
Djerassi was married three times and had two children. He and Virginia Jeremiah were married in 1943 and divorced in 1950. Djerassi married writer Norma Lundholm (1917–2006) later that year. They had two children together, and were divorced in 1976. One year after his second divorce, Djerassi began a relationship with Diane Middlebrook
Diane Helen Middlebrook ( Wood; April 16, 1939 – December 15, 2007) Cynthia Haven"Diane Middlebrook, professor emeritus and legendary biographer, dies at 68" ''Stanford Report'', December 15, 2007. was an American biographer, poet, and tea ...
, a Stanford University professor of English and biographer.[Haven, Cynthia]
"Diane Middlebrook, professor emeritus and legendary biographer, dies at 68"
Stanford University, January 9, 2008. In 1985, they were married and they lived between San Francisco and London, until her death on December 15, 2007 due to cancer.
On July 5, 1978, Djerassi's artist daughter Pamela (born 1950; from his second marriage, to Norma Lundholm), committed suicide,[ interviewed by Roger Kornberg, ''Annual Review of Biochemistry''][Carl Djerassi, Desert Island Discs]
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
which is described in his autobiography. With Middlebrook's help, Djerassi then considered how he could help living artists, rather than collecting works of dead ones. He visited existing artist colonies, such as Yaddo
Yaddo is an artists' community located on a estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.". On March  ...
and MacDowell, and decided to create his own, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program.[ He closed his cattle ranch and converted the barn and houses to residential and work space for artists.] He and his wife moved to a high rise in San Francisco that they had renovated.
Djerassi died on January 30, 2015, at the age of 91 from complications of liver and bone cancer. Upon his death Carl Djerassi was survived by his son and grandson.
References
External links
Personal website
*
*
Carl Djerassi tells his life story
at Web of Stories
Web of Stories is an online collection of thousands of autobiographical video-stories. Web of Stories, originally known as Science Archive, was set up to record the life stories of scientists. When it expanded to include the lives of authors, mov ...
Djerassi Resident Artists Program
Djerassi’s autograph
fro
Bob Weintraub, Israel Chemical Society. Pincus, Djerassi, and Oral Contraceptives
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Djerassi, Carl
1923 births
2015 deaths
People from Leopoldstadt
Syntex
Kenyon College alumni
Wayne State University faculty
Stanford University Department of Chemistry faculty
University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni
American atheists
Jewish emigrants from Austria to the United States after the Anschluss
Austrian people of Bulgarian descent
Jewish American scientists
20th-century Sephardi Jews
21st-century Sephardi Jews
American expatriates in Mexico
Jewish atheists
Jewish American dramatists and playwrights
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Members of the National Academy of Medicine
Deaths from liver cancer
Deaths from cancer in California
Members of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences
National Medal of Science laureates
National Medal of Technology recipients
Wolf Prize in Chemistry laureates
Foreign Members of the Royal Society
Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Recipients of the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class
Recipients of the Grand Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
Hormonal contraception
Austrian expatriates in Bulgaria
Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences