[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 46 (Wednesday, March 18, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E361-E362]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  IN RECOGNITION OF DR. CARL DJERASSI

                                  _____
                                 

                           HON. JACKIE SPEIER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 18, 2015

  Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the iconic Dr. Carl Djerassi 
who died at the age of 91 on January 30, 2015. In the weeks since his 
death, a great deal has been said about Dr. Djerassi.
  Most of these comments focus on his key role in developing the 
contraceptive pill. Because Dr. Djerassi and two other scientists were 
able to synthesize norethindrone, a key ingredient of the pill was 
finally available for widespread use and commercialization. The human 
race owes Dr. Djerassi a great deal.
  Because women were finally able to control their own fertility, they 
were able to spend time in school, obtain work and to fully join the 
economy. Millennia spent bearing children and being denied education 
and advancement due to the demands of raising children were now upended 
in those nations that embraced artificial contraception. The pill is 
often characterized as a great advancement for women but in truth all 
human beings were advanced as women were freed to increasingly 
contribute their talents and intellect fully to the great research and 
economic challenges of their eras.

[[Page E362]]

For this reason alone, Carl Djerassi should be heralded as an advocate 
for human rights and economic development.
  Dr. Djerassi came to the United States with his mother as a refugee 
from a Europe increasingly dominated by Nazi Germany. After writing to 
Eleanor Roosevelt about his impoverished state, but inquiring mind, she 
offered him a scholarship. It was a fateful offer for Carl Djerassi and 
for human beings globally. Dr. Djerassi graduated summa cum laude from 
Kenyon College before his 19th birthday and then earned his doctorate 
in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin. He subsequently worked 
for or founded several private companies, including early work for 
Syntex, the company that commercialized norethindrone into the pill. 
His research was also key to the synthesizing of antihistamines and 
cortisone.
  After positions at a number of other universities, Dr. Djerassi moved 
to Stanford where he conducted research and taught for decades. He was 
the ultimate professor who, because of his extraordinarily high 
standards, did not suffer fools gladly. Stanford University indicated 
that Dr. Djerassi published more than 1,200 scientific papers, and made 
early and important contributions in many areas of chemistry, including 
the use of analytical tools of chemistry such as mass spectrometry, 
magnetic circular dichroism and optical rotary dispersion. Those he 
mentored remarked on his willingness to look after their careers 
despite an extraordinary schedule that at times committed him to 
travelling 100,000 miles per year. In 1973, Dr. Djerassi was awarded 
the National Medal of Science by President Nixon. Stanford noted that 
he was the only awardee to simultaneously be given that award by the 
President while also being on Nixon's enemies list.
  In our region, Carl Djerassi was also known for his extraordinary 
love of art, poetry, and his books of ``science-in-fiction.'' According 
to those who knew him well, his short stories, novels and plays 
provided unusual detail about the lives and difficult choices of 
scientists who bear the burdens of historic discoveries.
  Mr. Speaker, some individuals leave as their legacy an endowment or a 
building or fond memories of a life well lived. At least from my 
perspective, Carl Djerassi left us all something that is much more 
valuable than any of these gifts: He gave us options in life. Thanks to 
Carl Djerassi, we can choose to live as human beings have lived for 
tens of thousands of years or we can acknowledge that human beings may 
seek a different path--one of self-determination and thus personal 
responsibility to leave the world a better place than when we entered 
it. Carl Djerassi left the world a much better place than when he 
entered it, having explored the greatest secrets of chemistry and some 
of the most difficult moral dilemmas confronted by inquiring minds. He 
was truly a man for all ages, and we can only hope that his insights 
passed down through these past decades will endure and be improved upon 
for decades yet to come.

                          ____________________