Prof. Carl Djerassi, father of oral contraception, to visit University of Groningen

Prof. Carl Djerassi, retired Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University, is today visiting the University of Groningen and the UMCG. Djerassi gained global notoriety as the man who invented oral contraception. Djerassi and his research team were the first to characterize and synthesize the active ingredient in what would later become known as ‘the pill’.

As author of more than 1,200 academic articles and seven monographs, Djerassi is one of only two Americans chemists to have been awarded both the National Medal of Science (in 1972, for the first synthesis of steroid oral contraception) and the National Medal of Technology (in 1991, for promoting new strategies for controlling insects). Djerassi will meet the chemist Prof. Ben Feringa during his visit to the University of Groningen.

Public lecture

This evening, Djerassi will give a lecture entitled ‘Divorce of Sex from Reproduction: A Shift in Gender-Power Relations’. The event has been organized by SIB Groningen, Panacea, Pharmaciae Sacrum and IFMSA study associations. Admission is free and the lecture is open to all. Location: Keuningzaal in the UMCG.