Carl Djerassi
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Carl Djerassi

The father of the Pill

Carl Djerassi (1923-2015) was born to Jewish parents in Vienna and driven into exile in 1938 when the Nazis came to power.

Via London he emigrated to the USA, where he built a career as a chemist. In 1951 he managed to synthesise the pregnancy hormone gestagen (a central precondition for the development of the Pill) and conducted ground-breaking research for which he was awarded the National Medal of Science (specifically for the development of the first hormone-based oral contraceptive).

He was also regarded as an authority on the German-Swiss artist Paul Klee (1897-1940) and had in his possession a valuable Klee collection with around 180 pieces. In 2008, Djerassi gave 69 of these works to the Albertina, while the remainder of his collection went to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

From the 1980s he turned his energies to writing bestselling novels and compiled two autobiographies: From the Lab into the World: A Pill for People, Pets and Bugs and The Pill, Pygmy Chimps and Degas’ Horse.

Following the suicide of his daughter Pamela, he funded a residency program for writers, artists, dancers and composers on his ranch on the Pacific Ocean and created other charities for art and literary research after the death of his second wife, Diane Middlebrook.

Vienna University awarded him an honorary doctorate in philosophy on June 5, 2012.

Photo: UniWien, 2012
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UniWien

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