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 graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...
, novelist, playwright and co-founder of Djerassi Resident Artists Program with
Diane Wood Middlebrook. He is best known for his contribution to the development of
oral contraceptive pills,
[Ball P (2015) "Carl Djerassi", ]Nature
Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...
519(7541), 34. nicknamed the "father of the pill".
Early life
Carl Djerassi was born in Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
, Austria, but spent the first years of his infancy in Sofia, Bulgaria
Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...
, 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 (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
.[
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 seen as originating fro ...
had attended many years earlier; spending summers in Bulgaria with his father.[
Austria refused him citizenship and after the ]Anschluss
The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938.
The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...
, his father briefly remarried his mother in 1938 to allow Carl and his mother to escape the Nazi
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
regime and flee to Sofia, Bulgaria, where he lived with his father for a year.[ ]Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
, 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 language, 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 S ...
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
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
and West Virginia
West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...
, and eventually retired near his son in San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
, California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
.
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 language, 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 S ...
, 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 longest-serving First Lady of the United States, first lady of the United States, during her husband Franklin D ...
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 an American 501(c) non-profit organization that focuses on international student exchange and aid, foreign affairs, and international peace and security. IIE creates programs of study and training ...
with a full scholarship to Tarkio College where he briefly attended, and then studied chemistry at Kenyon College
Kenyon College ( ) is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1824 by Episcopal Bishop Philander Chase. It is the oldest private instituti ...
, where he graduated '' summa cum laude''. After one year at CIBA, he moved to the University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...
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 male sex hormone and androgen in Male, males. In humans, testosterone plays a key role in the development of Male reproductive system, male reproductive tissues such as testicles and prostate, as well as promoting se ...
into the female sex hormone estradiol
Estradiol (E2), also called oestrogen, oestradiol, is an estrogen steroid hormone and the major female sex hormone. It is involved in the regulation of female reproductive cycles such as estrous and menstrual cycles. Estradiol is responsible ...
, through a sequence of chemical reactions.
Career
In 1942/43, Djerassi worked for CIBA in New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
, 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 r ...
.
In 1949 Djerassi became associate director of research at Syntex in Mexico City
Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
and remained there through 1951.[ He has said that one factor influencing him to choose Syntex was that they had a DU spectrophotometer.] 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. Cortisol is converted by the action of the enzyme corticosteroid 11-beta-dehydrogenase ...
based on diosgenin, a steroid
A steroid is an organic compound with four fused compound, fused rings (designated A, B, C, and D) arranged in a specific molecular configuration.
Steroids have two principal biological functions: as important components of cell membranes t ...
sapogenin
Sapogenins are aglycones (non-saccharide moieties) of saponins, a large family of natural products. Sapogenins contain steroid or other triterpene frameworks as their key organic feature. For example, steroidal sapogenins such as tiggenin, neo ...
derived from a Mexican wild yam. His team later synthesized norethisterone
Norethisterone, also known as norethindrone and sold under the brand name Norlutin among others, is a progestin medication used in birth control pills, menopausal hormone therapy, and for the treatment of gynecological disorders. The medicatio ...
(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 female sex hormone progesterone in the body. A progestin is a '' synthetic'' progestogen. ...
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. From 1952 to 1959 he was professor of chemistry at Wayne State University
Wayne State University (WSU) is a public university, public research university in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 375 programs. It is Michigan's third-l ...
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 co-inventor and the first to synthesize an oral contraceptive, progestin norethisterone.
Career summary
Miramontes was born in Tepic, Nayar ...
and Hungarian-Mexican George Rosenkranz
George Rosenkranz (born György Rosenkranz; 20 August 1916 – 23 June 2019) was a pioneering Hungarian-born Mexican scientist in the field of Steroid, steroid chemistry, who used native Mexican plant sources as raw materials. He was born in Hung ...
, 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 female sex hormone progesterone in the body. A progestin is a '' synthetic'' progestogen. ...
norethisterone
Norethisterone, also known as norethindrone and sold under the brand name Norlutin among others, is a progestin medication used in birth control pills, menopausal hormone therapy, and for the treatment of gynecological disorders. The medicatio ...
—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 ma ...
, remained effective when taken orally and was far stronger than the naturally occurring hormone
A hormone (from the Ancient Greek, Greek participle , "setting in motion") is a class of cell signaling, signaling molecules in multicellular organisms that are sent to distant organs or tissues by complex biological processes to regulate physio ...
. His preparation was first administered as an oral contraceptive to animals by Gregory Goodwin Pincus and Min Chueh Chang
Min Chueh Chang (, October 10, 1908 – June 5, 1991), often credited as M.C. Chang, was a Chinese American Reproductive biology, reproductive biologist. His specific area of study was the fertilisation process in mammalian reproduction. Though ...
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
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
,[ 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 language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto.
Th ...
.[
The Syntex connection brought wealth to Djerassi. He bought a large tract of land in San Mateo County, California, 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 in Vienna and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 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
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
, 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 used ...
and optical rotatory dispersion and applied them to the areas of organic chemistry
Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the science, scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic matter, organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain ...
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 (organism), pest; such as any animal, plant or fungus that impacts adversely on human activities or environment. The human response depends on the importance of the da ...
, using modified insect growth hormones to stop insects from metamorphosing from the larval stage to the pupa
A pupa (; : 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 life cycle, the stages th ...
l and adult stages. Zoecon was eventually acquired by Occidental Petroleum, which later sold it to Sandoz, now Novartis
Novartis AG is a Swiss multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical company, pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland. Novartis is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world and was the eighth largest by re ...
. Part of Zoecon survives in Dallas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
, Texas, making products to control flea
Flea, the common name for the order (biology), order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by hematophagy, ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult f ...
s and other pests.
In 1965 at Stanford University, nobel laureate Joshua Lederberg
Joshua Lederberg (May 23, 1925 – February 2, 2008) was an American molecular biology, molecular biologist known for his work in microbial genetics, artificial intelligence, and the United States space program. He was 33 years old when he won t ...
, 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 ACM Turing Award. He is often called the "father of expert systems".
Education and early life ...
, and Djerassi devised the computer program DENDRAL (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 (AI), 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 ...
s and one of the first uses of artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of 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 described as "science-in-fiction", fiction that portrays the lives of real scientists, with all their accomplishments, conflicts, and aspirations. The genre is also referred to as Lab lit.
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 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 also plays with this topic in ''Bourbaki Gambit''.
Science-in-theatre
After his success with prose literature in the Science-in-Fiction genre, 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.2[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, 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 that 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 many 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, 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''
*''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, coauthor)
*''Newton's Darkness: Two Dramatic Views''
*''Sex in an Age of Technological Reproduction: ICSI 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 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 ...
(1960)
* Scheele Award (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 science, behavior ...
(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", which was compiled by Charles Colson and Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...
. 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 has been published since 1863.
Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst and the flagship of the He ...
'', several months later.)
* Perkin Medal (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 US patent of significant technology. Besides the Hall of Fame, it also operate ...
(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 (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 nonprofit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest-achieving people in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet one ano ...
(1980)
* Priestley Medal (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 ...
, 1992)[
* Willard Gibbs Award (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 ...
., 1997)
* Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class (1999)
* Othmer Gold Medal (2000)
* Prize of the German Chemical Society for Writers (2001)
* Grand Gold Medal for services to the province of Lower Austria (2002)
* Gold Medal of the capital Vienna (2002)
* Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (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 Europe ...
(2003)
* American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal (2004)
* Lichtenberg Medal of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences (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.
* Grand Decoration of Honour in Silver for Services to the Republic of Austria (2008)
* Honorary doctorate from the faculty of humanities of the Technical University of Dortmund 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 province of Pontevedra, Pontevedra, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest ...
, Spain)
* Djerassi Glacier on Brabant Island 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 (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...
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 (2011)
* Honorary doctorate from the Porto University (2011)
* Honorary doctorate from the University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...
(2012)
* Honorary doctorate from the Medical University of Vienna
The Medical University of Vienna (MedUni Wien, German language, 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, foun ...
(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 (2013)
* Honorary doctorate from the University of Innsbruck
The University of Innsbruck (; ) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669.
It is the largest education facility in the Austrian States of Austria, ...
(2014)
* Djerassiplatz, the site of the University of Vienna Biology Building is named after him.
An award that eluded Djerassi was the Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
, 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, 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. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
, 2002. 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 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.
Carl Djerassi died on January 30, 2015, at the age of 91, from complications of liver and bone cancer. Upon his death he was survived by his son and grandson.
References
External links
Personal website
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*
Carl Djerassi tells his life story
at Web of Stories
Djerassi Resident Artists Program
Djerassi’s autograph
fro
Bob Weintraub, Israel Chemical Society. Pincus, Djerassi, and Oral Contraceptives
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Djerassi, Carl
1923 births
2015 deaths
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
20th-century Sephardi Jews
21st-century Sephardi Jews
American atheists
American expatriates in Mexico
Austrian expatriates in Bulgaria
Austrian people of Bulgarian descent
Austrian Sephardi Jews
Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Deaths from liver cancer in California
Foreign members of the Royal Society
Hormonal contraception
Jewish American dramatists and playwrights
Jewish American scientists
Jewish atheists
Jewish emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss to the United States
Kenyon College alumni
Members of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences
Members of the National Academy of Medicine
Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
National Medal of Science laureates
National Medal of Technology recipients
People from Leopoldstadt
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
Stanford University Department of Chemistry faculty
Syntex
University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni
Wayne State University faculty
Wolf Prize in Chemistry laureates