Carl Djerassi, inventor of the birth control pill, succumbed to complications of bone and liver cancer on Friday, Jan. 30, in San Francisco. He was 91 years old. He is survived by a son, stepdaughter and grandson.
Djerassi was born in Vienna, Austria, but spent the initial years of his life in Sofia, Bulgaria, which was the home of his father. In 1939, Djerassi moved to the U.S. with his mother.
Djerassi's academic career began through gaining an undergraduate degree from Kenyon College in Ohio. In 1945, Djerassi also earned a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He soon joined a pharmaceutical company called Ciba, now Novartis.
In 1949, Djerassi became the associate director of drug-maker Syntex based in Mexico City, where he remained until 1951 and made discoveries on menstrual disorders, cancer and cortisone. It was in 1951 when Djerassi headed the team that developed norethindrone, a synthetic molecule, which became a vital component used in the first birth control pill.
In 1952, he moved to Wayne State University then to Stanford University in 1959. Djerassi retired from Stanford University in 2002.
The birth control pill is one of the most common fertility control methods used by women today. About 100 million women worldwide and 12 million women in the U.S. are estimated to take birth control pills. The first oral birth control pills were approved in the U.S. in 1960.
The birth control pill made major changes in the lives of millions of women across the world and also radically transformed sexual practices. The contraceptive pill gives women additional control over their fertility. The pill helps women to avoid unintended pregnancy.
Djerassi also wrote a book called This Man's Pill, which he revealed changed his life and made him very interested in the ways science can affect society. In 1969, he also submitted a public policy article regarding the global implications of the U.S. contraceptive research. In 1970, Djerassi also published an article regarding the possibility of a birth control pill for men.
"The thoughts behind these two public policy articles had convinced me that politics, rather than science, would play the dominant role in shaping the future of human birth control," said Djerassi.
