Father of the birth control pill, developer of antihistimines, founder of chemical companies, teacher of world-class chemists, best-selling novelist...as "The Scientist" notes, "Few can match Carl Djerassi's juggling act for success and longevity." Here is Djerassi's remarkable autobiography. Blending vivid descriptions of the lucrative world of drug development with controversial chapters on the politics of contraception and poignant chapters about his personal and professional aspirations, this book tells the story of one of the most productive and socially conscious chemists working today. "The Pill, Pygmy Chimps and Degas' Horse" tells how Djerassi, at the ripe old age of 28, within a 12 month period, working in an obscure laboratory in Mexico City, first synthesized cortisone and then the Pill. The book describes his reaction to criticism from feminists that the pill was unsafe and reflected the scientific community's sexism (why was there no male birth control pill?). Finally the book chronicles Djerassi's career at the pinnacle of success in business and academia and his metamorphosis into a socialy conscious scientist, culminating in his founding of one of the first environmentally aware pesticide companies.
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)
