Carl Djerassi Dies at 91; Forever Altered Reproductive Practices as a Creator of the Pill

[azurnoir]

Source: NYT

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.

Dr. Djerassi arrived in America as World War II engulfed Europe, a 16-year-old Austrian Jewish refugee who, with his mother, lost their last $20 to a swindling New York cabdriver. He wrote to Eleanor Roosevelt, asking for assistance, and obtained a college scholarship. It was a little help that made a big difference.

Dr. Djerassi (pronounced jer-AH-see) wrote books, plays and 1,200 scientific articles; taught at universities for five decades; created an artists’ colony in California; and obtained a patent on the first antihistamine.

His work on the science of birth control helped engender enormous controversies and social changes, altering sexual and reproductive practices, family economics and the working lives of millions of women around the world.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/01/us/carl-djerassi-dies-at-91-forever-altered-reproductive-practices-as-a-creator-of-the-pill.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

[shenmue]

1. Rest in peace

[McCamy Taylor]

2. This man changed the world for women. Good job, doctor! RIP

[riversedge]

3. well said.

[Ilsa]

4. I suspect he saved millions of lives by inventing the pill.

Many more women would have died in poverty from not being able to control the size of their families, or in childbirth, or from illegal abortions, if he had not pursued his work.

I hope he rests well. I thank him.

[JDPriestly]

5. Wonderful story! Millions and millions of women are thankful to him.

Who knows which of us would have died under the burden of many pregnancies?

Women did, you know, before the pill and before the introduction of hygiene into the labor rooms and hospitals.

Another Austrian brought the hygiene --

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis

Dr. Djerassi and Semmelweiss -- saviors of women.

[CanSocDem]

8. So are 'millions' of men. (eom)

[JDPriestly]

10. True. But they did not save your lives. They saved ours.

[mountain grammy]

6. Sounds like he could do almost anything..

but I'll always be grateful for the freedom he gave women. Rest in peace.

[onehandle]

7. My favorite words from girlfriends from decades past...

'Don't worry, I'm on the pill.'

Yay!

RIP, Mr. Djerassi.

[Hekate]

9. The man deserves a monument. Have you ever watched Call the Midwife? Read the book...

The series is good, but the books on which it is based are a wonderful capsule social history in many ways.

At the end, the author points out how the order of nuns who were midwives had to abruptly change their calling with the advent of The Pill. They were delivering over a thousand babies a month -- and almost overnight that dropped to almost nothing. Women wholeheartedly and enthusiastically embraced the opportunity to be in control of their own fertility.

The Anglican nuns were not troubled by this. They had taken up midwifery in the first place because women and infants were dying like flies in the filthy conditions prevalent in the old days. They ultimately turned their energies to a new populace in need, AIDS patients who were also dying like flies. What they are doing now I don't know.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Dr. Djerassi. I have exactly two children because of the work he and others did.

[IcyPeas]

11. also started Djerassi Resident Artists Program....

http://www.djerassi.org/index.html

The Djerassi Resident Artists Program has provided over 2,000 artist residencies, and currently serves approximately 90 artists each year, since 1979 – all free of charge. It is the largest artist residency program in the Western United States and considered among the best in the country. Each year dozens of artists from across the United States, and around the world, travel to the open hillsides and deep redwood forests of SMIP Ranch to take inspiration from the beautiful surroundings and seek refuge from the distractions of the world to concentrate on their creative projects. While in residence, the artists work in peaceful isolation within a supportive community of other artists and Program staff. They thrive on the intellectual stimulation and the collegial interaction in this intimate artist community.

The Djerassi Program was founded in 1979 by Stanford University Professor Emeritus Dr. Carl Djerassi, who along with his colleagues at Syntex Corporation, became the first to synthesize a practical oral contraceptive in the early 1950s. In the 1960s, proceeds from the rise of Syntex stock enabled Djerassi to purchase a large tract of land in the Santa Cruz Mountains west of Stanford, which he called SMIP (Syntex-Made-It-Possible) Ranch, renamed Sic manebimus in pace (Thus we'll remain in peace) in 1970 . On this spectacular property with its breath-taking views of the Pacific Ocean and its quiet solitude, Djerassi built a home, as did his children, Pamela and Dale.