- Person
- Gregory Pincus
- Lived
- 1903–1967
- Field
- Reproductive biology
- From
- American
The story
In the 1930s Gregory Pincus was a rising star in reproductive biology at Harvard, but after his rabbit fertilisation experiments drew sensational press coverage, Harvard denied him tenure. With the country deep in the Great Depression and a young family to support, he was rescued by his friend Hudson Hoagland, who invited him to Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. During the Second World War the pair studied hormones and stress for the US Navy and air forces.
In 1944 the two men founded the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology, based in Shrewsbury, near Worcester, an independent laboratory funded by grants and contracts rather than by a university. At a time when most serious research was done in universities, it was an unusual and risky model.
Money was tight at first. According to PBS's American Experience, the foundation struggled to meet its weekly payroll and Pincus saved costs by doubling as the laboratory's janitor. Hoagland served as executive director, while Pincus ran the laboratories for twelve years and then became research director. The foundation found its niche in applied research on steroid hormones and soon became internationally known for the study of steroids and mammalian reproduction. It also trained young biochemists in the methods of steroid chemistry, and many of Pincus's doctoral students from Tufts and Boston University did their research there.
It drew talent from around the globe. By the end of the 1960s more than 300 international researchers had worked there, studying how hormones relate to cancer, heart disease, stress and mental illness. It was in these laboratories, in the 1950s, that Pincus and Min Chueh Chang carried out the animal research behind the oral contraceptive, which the US Food and Drug Administration approved in 1960. After that success, American Experience notes, the foundation flourished.
The laboratory that began on a shoestring went on to train a generation of endocrinologists and became the birthplace of one of the most consequential medical advances of the twentieth century.
Why it matters
The foundation trained a generation of endocrinologists and became the birthplace of one of the most consequential medical advances of the century.
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 founded a leading hormone conferenceIn 1944 Gregory Pincus organised the Laurentian Hormone Conference and edited its first 23 volumes of proceedings, a key forum for endocrinology.
- 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.
Sources
- Gregory Pincus (1903–1967) American Experience: The Pill, PBS
- Pincus, Gregory Goodwin Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography, via Encyclopedia.com
- Gregory Goodwin Pincus Wikipedia
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