Talk:Carl Djerassi

Enemies list

There is no indication here as to what his political involvements were that would have placed him on Nixon's enemies list. - Jmabel | Talk 19:51, 25 December 2006 (UTC)

Problematic article

This article has become increasingly problematic. There is a shortage of inline citation, and some serious problems in tone: "He makes these things possible for new generations of artists. Perhaps it beats sitting in Christie's and waving a paddle at the auctioneer, and spending his considerable fortune to buy a few more 'lots' at record prices." "Millions of mothers have not named babies after him. He has learned to live with it."

I think this needs a thorough going over by someone who knows the topic. - Jmabel | Talk 19:50, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

"Focusing on the steroid hormones and alkaloids, he elucidated the structure of steroids, an area in which he published over 9,000 papers." is ridiculous. He has not written 9000 papers on all topics combined, let alone this topic. The citation does not justify this claim. Jeff.science (talk) 05:05, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

Austrian Passport

An Austrian passport can hardly be seen as an "award" or an "honor". Djerassi's citizenship was converted from Austrian to German after Austria ceased to exist in 1938. He lost his citizenship in 1941 when the Third Reich renounced the citizenship of all Jews living abroad. (Which also meant that they could not own property in the Reich.) (The law was retracted after the war.) In this light especially, I don't think it can be seen as an honor if Djerassi's citizenship was reestablished much later. 129.27.237.78 (talk) 11:40, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

The Austrian state offered all persons who left Austria because of the Nazis the re-establishment of the Austrian citizenship. So he was not the only one. By the way, I do not think he ever had a German Reich citizenship. When his parents re-married so he and his mother could leave Austria, they became Bulgarians, as his father.

Regret

Someone posted information about Djerassi regretting having invented the pill, presumably over its relationship with the European demographic crisis. The information was deemed either controversial or badly sourced and later removed. However, if this is controversial, it should likely be discussed in the talk page. (cf [1] [2]) ADM (talk) 02:28, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

Djerassi himself fighted publicly against this wrong quote! Sources can be found in the web. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.174.34.170 (talk) 17:17, 25 October 2013 (UTC)

Call for Contributors

Philip Larkin had the foresight to say that effective, widely available contraception was the greatest change in human life, ever, but we were so close to it we couldn't see it yet. It must rank with the steam engine and the harnessing of electricity. It swiftly permitted the great change in women's lives in the West. This article needs improvement and enlargement. And improvement is easily available. I noticed that Oxford U Press has produced, about Djerassi, "This Man's Pill: Reflections on the 50th Birthday of the Pill" , Oxford University Press, USA, 2004, ISBN 0-19-860695-8 (autobiography) An OUP book won't be servile, or vanity press stuff (there's a lot of that about the fabulously wealthy Djerassi, it's true, anybody who lives in the Bay Area knows) but fact-checked and solid. Any takers? Not my field or I'd have a shot. Feminists and Americanists would be good candidates. Profhum (talk) 07:43, 19 March 2010 (UTC)

Diane Middlebrook

This article had a brief discussion of Djerassi's three marriages, or at least the third, to Diane Wood Middlebrook, who died in 2007. This material has disappeared since Middlebrook's death. Although she is no longer making news, perhaps her existence is still relevant to this article, which mentions his daughter, who died in 1978, and his parents, presumably both dead. Donfbreed (talk) 11:11, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

Copyright violations

I removed these WP:COPYVIO paragraphs added to the Career section by IP-hopping anonymous editor 71.182.111.225 / 71.123.25.175 (aka 141.149.208.54 / 71.123.29.191 / 71.182.123.65 / 71.123.17.215 / 71.182.107.102 / 70.16.52.193 / 70.16.61.75 / 71.182.100.111 / 71.240.244.35 / 71.123.31.25 / 71.240.247.110 / 70.16.49.248 / 71.182.108.43 / 71.182.98.194)

on 13:15, 3 April 2012:

Contraception was not the original reason Djerassi and his team in Mexico were researching the female sex hormone progesterone.
Though Gregory Pincus, in the United States, was operating with the support of birth-control activist Margaret Sanger,
Djerassi was a Jewish refugee fleeing Hitler - population control couldn't have been further from his agenda.
He was working towards an orally active form of progesterone as a remedy for severe menstrual disorders,
certain conditions of infertility, and cervical cancer.

from: Wood,Gaby (April 14, 2007). "Father of the pill". The Observer:

Contraception was not the original reason Djerassi and his team in Mexico were researching the drug.
Though Pincus, in the United States, was operating with the support of the eugenicist and birth-control activist Margaret Sanger,
Djerassi was a Jewish refugee fleeing Hitler - population control couldn't have been further from his agenda.
He was working towards an orally active form of progesterone as a remedy for severe menstrual disorders,
certain conditions of infertility, and cervical cancer.

and on 11:26, 16 April 2012:

The successful synthesis of of cortisone from the saponin diosgenin had permanently placed
Mexico Syntex on the scientific map of steroid research.
It was moreover, Upjohn's requirements for ten tons of progesterone for the biosynthesis of cortisone—
a quantity that at the time could be satisfied only from diosgenin through the Marker degradation—
that started Syntex on the path to an erstwhile pharmaceutical powerhouse.
"This is why I assign Marker a branch, even if only a remote one, on the Pill's family tree,
because our initial success with cortisone, and the huge order from Upjohn
were followed almost immediately by our synthesis—
a few month's later, again in Mexico City—of an orally active progestational steroid.

taken from: Djerassi, Carl (2001). This man's pill: reflections on the 50th birthday of the pill. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860695-8, p. 42:

Still, our successful synthesis of cortisone from diosgenin had permanently placed
Mexico on the scientific map of steroid research.
It was, moreover, Upjohn's requirements for tons of progesterone—
a quantity that at that time could be satisfied only from diosgenin through the Marker process—
that started Syntex on the way to becoming a pharmaceutical heavyweight.

This is why I assign Marker a branch, even if only a remote one, on the Pill's family tree,
because our initial scientific success with cortisone, and the huge order from Upjohn,
were followed almost immediately by our synthesis—
a few months later, again in Mexico City—of an orally active progestational steroid.

Lynn4 (talk) 19:33, 16 April 2012 (UTC)
Lynn4 (talk) 01:34, 21 April 2012 (UTC)
Lynn4 (talk) 18:26, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

More COPYVIOs by disruptive IP-hopping anonymous editor

I reverted the reintroduction of these tangential WP:COPYVIO paragraphs about Luis E. Miramontes to the "Career" section of Carl Djerassi by the persistently disruptive IP-hopping anonymous editor 132.236.120.83 / 71.240.253.202
(aka 71.182.111.225 / 71.123.25.175 141.149.208.54 / 71.123.29.191 / 71.182.123.65 / 71.123.17.215 / 71.182.107.102 / 70.16.52.193 / 70.16.61.75 / 71.182.100.111 / 71.240.244.35 / 71.123.31.25 / 71.240.247.110 / 70.16.49.248 / 71.182.108.43 / 71.182.98.194):

WP:COPYVIO re-added 22:45, 25 July 2012:

In 1950 Carl Djerassi took note of the Mexican student Luis E. Miramontes and invited him to join Syntex as his own assistant.
He was assigned the task of synthesizing
an orally efficient progesterone that could replace the painful injections used by woman to prevent a miscarriage.
On October 15, 1951, he completed the synthesis of norethindrone.
He was heartily congratulated by Djerassi and Rosencranz.
This milestone took place three months, July 1951, after Syntex contracted to sell Upjohn ten tons of progesterone at forty-eight cents per gram.

In an interview in Mexico City dated July 6,2004 Miramontes said,
"I knew that it would have oral activity but I didn't know about the Pill. I did not even imagine it.
Nor at the beginning did Djerassi, nor Rosenkranz imagine that everything related to the Pill would come about because of these experiments."

from Soto Laveaga, Gabriela (2009). Jungle laboratories: Mexican peasants, national projects, and the making of the Pill. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-8223-4605-0.
p. 67:

In 1950 Carl Djerassi took note of the Mexican student Luis E. Miramontes and invited him to join Syntex as his own assistant.
Miramontes was assigned to work on synthesizing other compounds. He was trying to find
an orally efficient synthetic progresterone that could replace the painful injections used by women with a history of miscarriages.¹²⁴
On October 15, 1951, after months of working seven days a week he concluded the synthesis of norethindrone.
He carefully detailed the reaction in his daily notebook, and was heartily congratulated by Djarassi and Rosencranz.

p. 66:

In July 1951, Upjohn asked Syntex for the unheard of amount of 10 tons of progesterone at forty-eight cents per gram.

p. 253:

¹²⁵ Luis Miramontes, personal interview, Mexico City, July 6, 2004.

p. 67:

Miramontes explained about the substance he had synthesized,
"I knew that it would have oral activity but I didn't know about the Pill. I did not even imagine it.
Nor at the beginning did Djerassi, nor Rosenkranz imagine that everything related to the Pill would come about [because of these experiments]."¹²⁵

In addition, this is an article about Carl Djerassi, not an article about Luis E. Miramontes.
Lynn4 (talk) 17:35, 27 July 2012 (UTC)

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Legacy

Director Eberhard Bussem’s documentary “The Eviction of Intellect - Vienna's Lost Sons, Four World Stars of Science” (2011) is dedicated to four Viennese-born scientists, Alfred Bader, Carl Djerassi, Walter Kohn and Peter Pulzer, who had to leave Vienna after Austria’s “Anschluss” to Nazi Germany simply for their Jewish origins. https://acflondon.org/events/eviction-intellect-viennas-lost-sons/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2444722/ Azizafshari (talk) 11:30, 21 October 2024 (UTC)