This man's pill - Carl Djerassi

October 15, 1951 marks the birthday of one of the key episodes in 20th century social history: the first
synthesis of a steroid oral contraceptive in a small laboratory in Mexico City - an event that triggered the
development of the Pill. Carl Djerassi has been honoured worldwide for that accomplishment, which ultimately
changed the life of women and the nature of human reproduction in ways that were notforeseeable. On the
50th anniversary of this pivotal event, Djerassi weaves a compelling personal narrative full of self-reflection
and occasional humour on the impact this invention has had on the world at large and on him personally. He
credits the Pill with radically altering his academic career at Stanford University to become one of the few
American chemists writing novels and plays.
This Man's Pill presents a forcefully revisionist account of the
early history of the Pill, debunking many of the journalistic and romantic accounts of its scientific
origin. Djerassi does not shrink from exploring why we have no Pill for men or why Japan only approved thePill
in 1999 (together with Viagra). Emphasizing that development of the Pill occurred during the post-War
period of technological euphoria, he believes that it could not be repeated in today's climate. Would the
sexual revolution of the 1960s orthe impending separation of sex ("in bed") and fertilization ("under
the microscope") still have happened?
This Man's Pill answers such questions while providing a uniquely
authoritative account of a discovery that changed the world.