- Person
- Gregory Pincus
- Lived
- 1903–1967
- Field
- Reproductive biology
- From
- American
The story
Endocrinology, the study of hormones, grew rapidly in the 1940s as chemists learned to make steroid hormones in quantity. Gregory Pincus, then a visiting professor at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, was already one of the leading figures in reproductive hormone research and was about to found his own independent laboratory. He saw that the young field needed a regular meeting place where researchers from universities, hospitals and industry could share results and argue over new findings.
In the spring of 1943 the American Association for the Advancement of Science sponsored a first conference on hormones near Baltimore. It was held at a private club, and the African American chemist Percy Julian was at first excluded. Pincus protested to the management, and Julian was eventually allowed to attend. Pincus was not one of that first year's organisers, but in 1944 he reshaped the meeting together with the biochemist Samuel Gurin and the physiological chemist Robert W. Bates.
They moved it to the Laurentian mountains of Quebec, and from then on it was known as the Laurentian Hormone Conference. Pincus served as its permanent chairman, and its proceedings, published as Recent Progress in Hormone Research, became a standard reference. He edited the first twenty-three volumes, from 1946 until his death in 1967.
The conference attracted endocrinologists from many countries and helped turn a scattered set of laboratories into an international scientific community. Pincus also co-edited the first five volumes of the reference work The Hormones, which gathered what was known about the chemistry and physiology of the body's chemical messengers.
Wikipedia notes that he was widely acknowledged for creating the conference, which was attended by endocrinologists from all over the world. By giving hormone scientists a shared forum and literature at a formative moment, Pincus helped speed the advances in understanding diabetes, adrenal disease, infertility and hormone-related cancers that followed.
Why it matters
By giving hormone researchers a shared forum and literature, Pincus helped speed advances in treating diabetes, adrenal disease, infertility and hormone-related cancers.
About Gregory Pincus
Biologist, son of Russian Jewish immigrants, who led the research that produced the first oral contraceptive pill, approved in the United States in 1960.
More about Gregory Pincus
- Gregory Pincus fertilised rabbit eggs in glass in 1934In 1934, at 31, Gregory Pincus achieved in vitro fertilisation of rabbit eggs, more than four decades before the first human IVF baby.
- Gregory Pincus developed the birth control pillWorking from a struggling independent lab, Gregory Pincus led the research that produced the first oral contraceptive, approved by the US FDA in 1960.
- Pincus studied stress in wartime pilotsDuring the Second World War Gregory Pincus and Hudson Hoagland studied stress and fatigue for the US Navy and air forces, measuring hormones in pilots.
- Pincus built a world centre for hormone researchThe Worcester Foundation, co-founded by Gregory Pincus in 1944, became an international centre for steroid hormone research, hosting over 300 foreign scientists.
Sources
- Pincus, Gregory Goodwin Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography, via Encyclopedia.com
- Gregory Goodwin Pincus Wikipedia
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