- Person
- Carl Djerassi
- Lived
- 1923–2015
- Field
- Chemistry
- From
- Austrian-American
The story
Carl Djerassi, a refugee from Nazi Vienna who became one of the most celebrated chemists of his time, turned to writing in the 1980s, first with novels in a genre he called science-in-fiction. He then moved to the theatre, which he felt suited his wish to work in dialogue rather than in the solitary, one-way voice of a scientific paper. His first play, An Immaculate Misconception (1998), dealt with ICSI, a technique for in vitro fertilisation.
His second, Oxygen, was written with Roald Hoffmann, a fellow chemist and Nobel laureate, and it appeared in 1999. It dramatises events leading to the discovery of oxygen in the eighteenth century and asks who really deserves credit for it, and why recognition matters so much to scientists. It also explores what it means to be a scientist, with all the ambition, rivalry and doubt that involves. Oxygen was staged in several theatres around the world.
Djerassi continued in the same vein with Calculus (2002), about the dispute between Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz over who invented calculus, and Phallacy (2004), set where chemistry meets art history. Later plays such as Taboos and Insufficiency returned to questions of reproduction, gender and academic life. The British director Andy Jordan, who produced all of his plays in England, described them as driven above all by ideas and language.
Djerassi insisted that the science in his plays always be plausible, even when the characters and settings were invented, and his strong, independent female characters highlight the contributions women make to science. He revised his plays repeatedly, some with several endings, and argued in his book Chemistry in Theatre that drama could be a powerful way to teach science. His plays have been performed in theatres around the globe and translated into many European and Asian languages, and some have been staged in classrooms as well as theatres.
Oxygen remains the best-known example of two working scientists using the stage to show audiences how science is really done.
Why it matters
Oxygen brought questions of scientific credit and ethics to theatre audiences, showing scientists as people with ambitions, rivalries and doubts.
About Carl Djerassi
Refugee from Nazi Vienna whose Syntex team in Mexico City first made norethindrone, a key oral contraceptive; later a novelist and playwright.
More about Carl Djerassi
- Carl Djerassi made cortisone from a Mexican yamIn 1951 Carl Djerassi's team at Syntex in Mexico City synthesised cortisone from a compound in a wild yam, using a cheaper raw material and about half as many steps.
- Carl Djerassi helped build DENDRAL, a pioneering AIIn 1965 Carl Djerassi, Joshua Lederberg and Edward Feigenbaum devised DENDRAL at Stanford, one of the first uses of artificial intelligence in biomedical research.
- Carl Djerassi helped create an early antihistamineAs a 19-year-old chemist at CIBA in New Jersey in 1942–43, Carl Djerassi helped develop Pyribenzamine, one of the first commercial antihistamines and his first patent.
- Carl Djerassi published more than 1,200 scientific papersCarl Djerassi pioneered the use of mass spectrometry and optical rotatory dispersion to decode the structures of steroids and alkaloids, publishing more than 1,200 papers.
- Carl Djerassi pioneered gentler insect controlIn 1968 Carl Djerassi founded Zoecon to control pests with modified insect hormones instead of broad poisons, work honoured with the US National Medal of Technology in 1991.
- Carl Djerassi gave his Paul Klee collection to museumsCarl Djerassi assembled one of the most significant private collections of Paul Klee's art and arranged for it to go to the Albertina in Vienna and SFMOMA in San Francisco.
- Carl Djerassi turned his ranch into a haven for artistsAfter his daughter Pamela, an artist, died in 1978, Carl Djerassi turned his California cattle ranch into the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, a retreat for working artists.
- Carl Djerassi invented science-in-fictionStarting with Cantor's Dilemma in 1989, Carl Djerassi wrote novels in a genre he called science-in-fiction, showing readers how real scientists think, compete and behave.
- Carl Djerassi helped create the first oral contraceptiveIn 1951 Carl Djerassi, a refugee from Nazi Austria, co-invented norethisterone in Mexico City, the first highly active progestin that worked by mouth and a key ingredient of the Pill.
Sources
- Carl Djerassi Wikipedia
- Oxygen (play) Wikipedia
Another act of tikkun olam. This is part of tikkun olam, the Jewish idea of repairing the world, and every one of us can add to it.