C&EN: Guest Editorial: Celebrating Carl Djerassi
- #news
- #headline
Figure timeline
Carl Djerassi
Carl Djerassi was a Viennese-born Bulgarian-American pharmaceutical chemist, novelist, playwright and co-founder of Djerassi Resident Artists Program with Diane Wood Middlebrook. He is best known for his contribution to the development of oral contraceptive pills, nicknamed the "father of the pill".
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
science · American pharmaceutical chemist and writer (1923–2015) · chemist · writer · university teacher · science fiction writer · scientist · collector · playwright · also Carl Djerassi, C. Djerassi, C Djerassi, Djerassi, Djerassi C, Djerassi C.
Born 29 October 1923 · Died 30 January 2015 · Q78608
46 published statements · 0 followers
See & hear
Photos & media
2 photos
Media from Wikimedia Commons, hotlinked at the source under its own licence — see each file for author and terms.
Live now
In the news
Pulling headlines from trusted outlets — this usually takes a few seconds
Checking the wires…
Feed scan
These are live links, not archived citations — they only join the timeline once a collect run verifies and archives them.
Live pulse
Recent highlights
Most recent outstanding titles, awards, and quotes
- Award
- Award
2023· 1 entry
2018· 1 entry
The Scientist: Carl Djerassi
- #news
- #headline
2015· 8 entries
The Boston Globe: Carl Djerassi, 91; created key ingredient for ‘the pill’
- #news
- #headline
PBS: Carl Djerassi, a creator of the birth control pill, dies at 91
- #news
- #headline
The Forward: Carl Djerassi, Who Helped Discover Birth Control Pill, Dies at 91
- #news
- #headline
The Washington Post: Carl Djerassi, a chemist behind the birth control pill, dies at 91
- #news
- #headline
Yahoo: Carl Djerassi, the man who helped develop 'the pill', dies at 91
- #news
- #headline
At the age of 91, from complications of liver and bone cancer
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Died 2015-01-30.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #death
Carl Djerassi died on January 30, 2015, at the age of 91, from complications of liver and bone cancer.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #life
- #personal-life
2011· 1 entry
Won Edinburgh Medal (2011).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
2010· 1 entry
Awarded Foreign Member of the Royal Society (2010).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
2004· 1 entry
Won American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal (2004).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
2003· 1 entry
Awarded Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2003).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
2001· 1 entry
Awarded GDCh Prize For Journalism And Literature (2001).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
2000· 1 entry
Won Othmer Gold Medal (2000).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
1999· 1 entry
Awarded Inhoffen-Medaille (1999).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1998· 1 entry
Awarded William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement (1998).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1997· 1 entry
Awarded Willard Gibbs Award (1997).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1995· 1 entry
Awarded Prince Mahidol Award (1995).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1992· 3 entries
Won Priestley Medal (1992).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
Won Nevada Medal (1992).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
“scientists are not necessarily narrow specialists, communicating in an incomprehensible language and dealing in the cloistered ambience of their laboratories with subjects far removed from everyday concerns”
- #wikipedia
- #quote
- #trusted-source
- #www.theguardian.com
- #corroborated
1991· 1 entry
Won National Medal of Technology and Innovation (1991).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
1990· 1 entry
Awarded NAS Award for the Industrial Application of Science (1990).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1985· 2 entries
Were married and they lived between San Francisco and London, until her death on December 15, 2007, due to cancer
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Said: "I feel like I'd like to lead one more life
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1978· 3 entries
Djerassi's daughter Pamela, an artist (born 1950; from his second marriage, to Norma Lundholm), committed suicide, which is described in his autobiography
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Awarded National Inventors Hall of Fame (1978).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Awarded Wolf Prize in Chemistry (1978).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1975· 1 entry
Won Perkin Medal (1975).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
1973· 3 entries
Awarded Chemical Pioneer Award (1973).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Awarded ACS Award for Creative Invention (1973).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Won National Medal of Science (1973).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
1972· 1 entry
Awarded Scheele Award (1972).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1968· 1 entry
Started a new company, Zoecon, which focused on environmentally soft methods of pest control, using modified insect growth hormones to stop insects from metamorphosing from the larval stage to the pupal and adult stag
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1965· 1 entry
At Stanford University, Nobel laureate Joshua Lederberg, computer scientist Edward Feigenbaum, and Djerassi devised the computer program DENDRAL (dendritic algorithm) for the elucidation of the molecular structure of unk
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1963· 1 entry
Awarded Centenary Prize (1963).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1960· 2 entries
Awarded Ernest Guenther Award (1960).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Became a professor of chemistry at Stanford University, a position he held until 2002 but only part-time, as he never left industry
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1958· 1 entry
Awarded ACS Award in Pure Chemistry (1958).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1957· 1 entry
Djerassi became vice president of research at Syntex in Mexico City while on leave of absence from Wayne State
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1949· 2 entries
His father emigrated to the United States, practiced in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and eventually retired near his son in San Francisco, California
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Djerassi became associate director of research at Syntex in Mexico City and remained there through 1951
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1938· 1 entry
To allow Carl and his mother to escape the Nazi regime and flee to Sofia, Bulgaria, where he lived with his father for a year
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1923· 1 entry
Born 1923-10-29.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #birth