Carl Djerassi (October 29, 1923 – January 30, 2015) was an Austrian-born Bulgarian-American pharmaceuticalchemist, novelist, playwright and co-founder of Djerassi Resident Artists Program withDiane Wood Middlebrook. He is best known for his contribution to the development oforal contraceptive pills,[1][2][3] nicknamed the "father of the pill".[4]
Carl Djerassi was born inVienna, Austria, but spent the first years of his infancy inSofia, Bulgaria, the home of his father, Samuel Djerassi, a dermatologist and specialist in sexually transmitted diseases.[5][6] His mother was Alice Friedmann, a Viennese dentist and physician. Both parents wereJewish.[1]
Following his parents' divorce, Djerassi and his mother moved to Vienna. Until the age of 14, he attended the samerealgymnasium thatSigmund Freud had attended many years earlier;[7] spending summers in Bulgaria with his father.[8]
Austria refused him citizenship and after theAnschluss, his father briefly remarried his mother in 1938 to allow Carl and his mother to escape theNazi regime and flee to Sofia, Bulgaria, where he lived with his father for a year.[1]Bulgaria, 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 theAmerican College of Sofia, where he became fluent in English.[8]
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.[1] In 1949, his father emigrated to the United States,[1] practiced inPennsylvania andWest Virginia, and eventually retired near his son inSan Francisco,California.
Djerassi started his college career at Newark Junior College, after moving to the United States with his mother when he was 16. He had previously attended theAmerican College of Sofia, 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 LadyEleanor Roosevelt asking for help with a room and board and tuition scholarship to a four-year college. He received a response from theInstitute of International Education with a full scholarship toTarkio College where he briefly attended, and then studied chemistry atKenyon College, where he graduatedsumma cum laude.[8][9][10] After one year atCIBA, he moved to theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison where he earned his PhD in organic chemistry in 1945.[6] His thesis work examined the transformation of the male sex hormonetestosterone into the female sex hormoneestradiol, through a sequence of chemical reactions.[11]
In 1949, Djerassi became associate director of research atSyntex inMexico City and remained there through 1951.[8] He said that one factor influencing him to choose Syntex was that they had aDU spectrophotometer.[12] He worked on a new synthesis ofcortisone based ondiosgenin, asteroidsapogenin derived from a Mexican wild yam.[13] His team later synthesizednorethisterone (norethindrone),[14] the first highly activeprogestin 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, Djerassi was professor of chemistry atWayne State University in Detroit.[8]
In 1957, Djerassi became vice president of research at Syntex in Mexico City while on leave of absence from Wayne State. In 1960, he became a professor of chemistry atStanford University,[8] a position he held until 2002[16] but only part-time, as he never left industry.[3] From 1968 until 1972, he also served as president of Syntex Research atPalo Alto.[8]
The Syntex connection brought wealth to Djerassi. He bought a large tract of land inSan 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 byPaul Klee was considered to be one of the most significant to be privately held.[7][17] He arranged for his Klee collections to be donated to theAlbertina in Vienna and theSan Francisco Museum of Modern Art, effective on his death.[18]
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Djerassi continued to do significant scientific work, as a professor in the department of chemistry atStanford University, and as an entrepreneur. He pioneered novel physical research techniques formass spectrometry andoptical rotatory dispersion and applied them to the areas oforganic chemistry and the life sciences.[19] Focusing on the steroid hormones and alkaloids, he elucidated the structure of steroids, an area in which he published more than 1,200 papers.[1] 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.[19]
In 1968, he started a new company, Zoecon,[8] which focused on environmentally soft methods ofpest control, using modified insect growth hormones to stop insects from metamorphosing from the larval stage to thepupal and adult stages.[20] Zoecon was eventually acquired byOccidental Petroleum, which later sold it toSandoz, nowNovartis. Part of Zoecon survives inDallas, Texas, making products to controlfleas and other pests.
In 1965 at Stanford University,Nobel laureateJoshua Lederberg, computer scientistEdward Feigenbaum, and Djerassi devised the computer programDENDRAL (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.[21] This was a prototype forexpert systems and one of the first uses ofartificial intelligence in biomedical research.[21]
Djerassi published widely as a novelist, playwright and scientist.[24][25][26][27] In 1985, he 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."[8][19]He went on to write several novels in the "science-in-fiction" genre, includingCantor's Dilemma,[28] 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.[19] He wrote a number of plays, which have been performed and extensively translated.[29][30] His bookChemistry 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.[31]
Djerassi wrote five novels, four of which he described as "science-in-fiction",[32][33] fiction that portrays the lives of real scientists, with all their accomplishments, conflicts, and aspirations. The genre is also referred to asLab lit.[34]
In his first two novels,Cantor's Dilemma andBourbaki Gambit, he shows how scientists work and think. InCantor's Dilemma, there is the suspicion of scientific fraud; inBourbaki Gambit the question of personal achievement stands in the center.[35] In the third,Menachem's Seed,ICSI and thePugwash organization are the main themes.[36] In the last,NO, Djerassi shows how young scientists develop an idea as far as founding a company to market a product[37] – something he himself did in the field of insecticides.
The topic of Djerassi's 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.[38] He also plays with this topic inBourbaki Gambit.
After his success with prose literature in the Science-in-Fiction genre, Djerassi started to write plays.[30] 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.[29] 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 […but] avowedly text-driven, where ideas, themes, words and language were majorly important, a fact I had always to be conscious of as the director."[39]
Djerassi's first play,An Immaculate Misconception (1998), dealing with the in vitro fertilization procedure ICSI,[40] was followed by two plays about priority struggles in the history of science,Oxygen (co-authored withRoald Hoffmann, 1999)[41] andCalculus (2002),[42] and a drama at the intersection of chemistry and art history,Phallacy (2004).[43]Ego (2003, also produced under the titleThree on a Couch),[44] together with the docudramaFour Jews on Parnassus (2006, publ. 2008)[45] andForeplay (2010),[29] 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;[46] his 2012 playInsufficiency is a bitter satire of both the scientific community and academic environments.[30]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 DrÀgata Baizán and Alberto Diaz) where it opened the VIII Latinoamerican and Caribbean Biotechnology meetingREDBIO-Argentina 2013 and featured in universities and theaters.[47]
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.[48] 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.[49] 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.[44]
Djerassi's plays have found their way into theaters around the globe and have been translated into many European and Asian languages.[30] Djerassi repeatedly revised his plays and some of them have different versions and multiple endings[50] (especiallyAn 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.[51] 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.
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 orThe clock runs backwards), others his personal life (e.g.A Diary of Pique).[52][53][54]
Patent of the first orally highly active progestin, which led to the development of the oral contraceptive, elected to theNational Inventors Hall of Fame
Djerassi won numerous awards during his career including:
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"
An Austrian postage stamp with Djerassi's portrait was issued to mark his 80th birthday (2005)[6] The Austrian government also sent him a new Austrian passport.
Djerassi described himself as a "Jewish atheist".[97]
Djerassi was married three times and had two children. He and Virginia Jeremiah were married in 1943 and divorced in 1950.[98] Djerassi married writer Norma Lundholm (1917–2006) later that year.[99] They had two children together, and were divorced in 1976.[100] One year after his second divorce, Djerassi began a relationship withDiane Middlebrook, a Stanford University professor of English and biographer.[101] In 1985, they were married and they lived between San Francisco and London, until her death on December 15, 2007, due to cancer.[101][102]
On July 5, 1978, Djerassi's artist daughter Pamela (born 1950; from his second marriage, to Norma Lundholm), committed suicide,[103][104] 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 asYaddo andMacDowell, and decided to create his own, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program.[7][17] He closed his cattle ranch and converted the barn and houses to residential and work space for artists.[105][106] 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.[1][107] Upon his death he was survived by his son and grandson.
^abcdefghRobert D. McFadden (January 31, 2015)."Carl Djerassi, 91, a Creator of the Birth Control Pill, Dies".The New York Times. RetrievedJanuary 31, 2015.Carl Djerassi, an eminent chemist who 63 years ago synthesized a hormone that changed the world by creating the key ingredient for the oral contraceptive known as 'the pill,' died at his home in San Francisco on Friday. He was 91. His son, Dale, said the cause was complications of liver and bone cancer....
^abBall P (2015) "Carl Djerassi",Nature519(7541), 34.
^Rosenkranz, George (2005). "The Early Days of Syntex".Chemical Heritage Magazine.23 (2):8–13.
^Djerassi, C.; Miramontes, L.; Rosenkranz, G.; Sondheimer, F. (1954). "Steroids. LIV.1Synthesis of 19-Nov-17α-ethynyltestosterone and 19-Nor-17α-methyltestosterone2".Journal of the American Chemical Society.76 (16):4092–4094.Bibcode:1954JAChS..76.4092D.doi:10.1021/ja01645a010.
^Gehrke, Ingrid (2008).Der intellektuelle Polygamist: Carl Djerassi's Grenzgänge in Autobiographie, Roman und Drama. Berlin et al.: Lit Verlag.ISBN978-3-8258-1444-1.
^Grünzweig, Walter, ed. (2012).The SciArtist: Carl Djerassi's Science-in-Literature in Transatlantic and Interdisciplinary Contexts. Berlin et al.: Lit Verlag.ISBN978-3-643-90231-3.
^Jordan, Andi (2012), "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, p. 119.
^abWalter Grünzweig, ed.,The SciArtist: Carl Djerassi's Science-in-Literature in Transatlantic and Interdisciplinary Contexts, Berlin et al.: Lit Verlag, 2012.
^Calamia, Donald V. (September 1, 2005)."Curtain Calls".Between the Lines News. Archived fromthe original on February 2, 2015. RetrievedFebruary 2, 2015.
^The Futurist and Other Stories, London & Sydney: Macdonald, 1989.ISBN0-356-17500-6.
^How I Beat Coca-Cola and Other Tales of One-Upmanship, Madison: Terrace Books/University of Wisconsin Press, 2013.ISBN978-0-299-29504-2.
^Marx, Deceased. A Novel, Athens & London: University of Georgia Press, 1996.ISBN0-8203-1835-3.
^Menachem's Seed. A Novel, Athens & London: University of Georgia Press, 1997.ISBN0-8203-1925-2.
^NO. A Novel, Athens & London: University of Georgia Press, 1998.ISBN0-8203-2032-3.
^Chemistry in Theatre: Insufficiency, Phallacy or Both, Imperial College Press, 2012.ISBN978-1-84816-937-1.
^Foreplay: Hannah Arendt, the Two Adornos, and Walter Benjamin, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2011.ISBN978-0-299-28334-6.
^An Immaculate Misconception: Sex in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction, London: Imperial College Press, 2000.ISBN1-86094-248-2 (adapted from the novelMenachem's Seed).
^"Carl Djerassi: The Steroid King". Carl Djerassi: The Steroid King. N.p., n.d. Web. October 1, 2016. His parents were both Jewish, but although young Carl was bar mitzvahed, the family was not religiously observant. He characterizes himself as a "Jewish atheist".
