One of the most challenging issues of the 21st century is the impending separation of sex (in bed) and reproduction (under the microscope) as a result of recent advances in contraception and assisted reproduction. Many of the ethical and societal issues associated with these new reproductive technologies, notably intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), are raised in an unusual format -- namely in dialogic form -- which is both entertaining and pedagogically informative.
CARL DJERASSI, born in Vienna but educated in the US, is a writer and professor of chemistry emeritus at Stanford University. Author of over 1200 scientific publications and seven monographs, he is one of the few American scientists to have been awarded both the National Medal of Science (in 1973, for the first synthesis of a steroid oral contraceptive--"the Pill") and the National Medal of Technology (in 1991, for promoting new approaches to insect control). A member of the US National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as well as the Royal Society (London) and many other foreign academies, Djerassi has received 24 honorary doctorates together with numerous other honors, such as the first Wolf Prize in Chemistry, the first Award for the Industrial Application of Science from the National Academy of Sciences, the American Chemical Society's highest award, the Priestley Medal, and more recently, the Erasmus Medal of the Academia Europaea (2003), the Great Merit Cross of Germany (2003), the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Chemists (2004), the Serono Prize in Literature (Rome, 2005) and and the Great Silver Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria (2008). In 2005, the Austrian Post Office issued a stamp in his honor.
During the past 23 years, he has published short stories, poetry (The Clock runs backward) and five novels (Cantor's Dilemma; The Bourbaki Gambit; Marx, deceased; Menachem's Seed; NO)--that illustrate as "science-in-fiction" the human side of science and the personal conflicts faced by scientists--as well as an autobiography (The Pill, Pygmy Chimps and Degas' Horse), a memoir (THIS MAN'S PILL: Reflections on the 50th birthday of the Pill), a docudrama (Four Jews on Parnassus--a Conversation,) and seven plays: An Immaculate Misconception, Oxygen (written with Roald Hoffmann), Calculus, EGO, Phallacy, Taboos, and Foreplay.
Djerassi is the founder of the Djerassi Resident Artists Program near Woodside, California, which provides residencies and studio space for artists in the visual arts, literature, choreography and performing arts, and music. Over 2000 artists have passed through that program since its inception in 1982. Djerassi lives in San Francisco, Vienna, and London.
(There is a Web site about Carl Djerassi's writing at http://www.djerassi.com)
