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Announcement sent to the Stanford Chemistry
Community. Shared with permission. GB
Sent on behalf of Keith Hodgson, Chair of the Chemistry Department
_____________________________________________________________
Dear Faculty, Staff, and Friends,
Many of you may already know the sad news of
Carl Djerassi’s passing. Carl died last Friday, January 30, 2015,
at his home in San Francisco following a long illness. He is
survived by his son, Dale Djerassi, stepdaughter Leah Middlebrook,
and grandson, Alexander M. Djerassi.
Much has, and will continue to be, written
about Carl’s extensive contributions to science, humanity and the
arts. Here, I would like to briefly focus on his academic and
research career, and him as our faculty colleague at Stanford for
more than 40 years. Carl attended Newark Junior College and
Tarkio College, and subsequently graduated summa cum laude from
Kenyon College before his nineteenth birthday. It was at Kenyon
where, in his own words, he “became a chemist”. He then moved to
the University of Wisconsin where he earned a Ph.D. in chemistry
in 1945 and made lifelong connections with both its prominent
professors (William Johnson) and students (Gilbert Stork). He
subsequently worked as a research chemist at the CIBA
Pharmaceutical Company in New Jersey, developing one of the first
commercial antihistamines (Pyribenzamine) and experiencing first
hand the powerful connection between chemistry and human health.
In 1949, at the age of 26, Carl became associate director of
research at Syntex, S.A. in Mexico City. His research was directed
at a synthesis of cortisone from diosgenin, a molecule derived
from a Mexican wild yam and a naturally abundant precursor for
synthetic steroids. Later, he and his coworkers synthesized
norethisterone, a potent orally available progestin analog that to
this day is a component of pharmaceuticals that control fertility
(a.k.a. “the Pill”). Carl’s chemistry contributed critically to
what is perhaps one of the greatest liberations of all time, the
freedom of a woman to make a choice on conception.
Carl reestablished his connection with academia
in 1952, accepting a position as Professor of Chemistry at Wayne
State University. However, in 1957, he returned to Syntex, S.A. in
Mexico City, while on leave from Wayne State, to serve as its vice
president of research. In the late 1950s, William Johnson, one of
Carl’s mentors at the University of Wisconsin, was recruited to
Stanford University. Bill came to Stanford in 1960 as the new
Executive Head with the mandate from the then Stanford Provost
Fred Terman to build Chemistry into one of the world’s leading
Departments. During this same period, Bill championed the
recruitment of Carl from Wayne State (at that time on leave at
Syntex in Mexico City) and Carl joined the Department in 1959.
Providing modern laboratory space for two large experimental
groups in the “Old Chemistry and Organic Chemistry Buildings” was
a daunting challenge. Fortunately, support for a new research
chemistry laboratory building was quickly found and through the
generosity of the Stauffer Family, the Stauffer Laboratory (known
now as Stauffer I) was designed by the local architect Birge
Clarke with guidance from Carl and Bill. The new building,
completed in late 1960, was the home for Carl’s office and
research laboratories through all of his academic career at
Stanford.
Carl engaged vigorously in the teaching and
research missions of the Department. He was even planning to give
a Sophomore Seminar class this winter quarter, which he
regrettably had to cancel in December due to his failing health.
As a Stanford Chemistry colleague, Carl did many things which were
important for our Department beyond his outstanding research,
teaching and mentorship. He created our Industrial Affiliates
Program that served as a model for effective university-industry
partnerships. He is responsible for the Chemistry Department
Gazebo, which was his brainchild and for which he raised funding
from several industrial donors. Carl was the co-founder of our
Johnson Symposium which began in 1986 as a tribute to Bill Johnson
and this year will be the 30th in the series. At the
same time, Carl continued his dual academic-industrial career,
serving as the President of Syntex Research in Palo Alto from 1968
to 1972. In 1968, he also started a new company, Zoecon,
connecting his interest in human hormone biochemistry to insect
hormones that influence insect growth and can thus be used for
pest control.
Carl’s scientific productivity was astounding
and he published over 1200 scientific papers. He made a mark on
synthesis, contributing methods for the construction of organic
compounds and most notably steroids. He contributed significantly
to our understanding of biosynthesis, i.e., how nature
makes molecules and he was one of the early leaders in efforts to
isolate, characterize and elucidate the biosynthesis of marine
natural products. Carl also helped to pioneer development and
application of instrumentation and methods in chemistry. This
included the use of mass spectrometry, a highly sensitive
analytical tool that is critical to establishing the structure of
complex molecules. He also made contributions to magnetic circular
dichroism and optical rotatory dispersion, again providing
insights into the structure of molecules, including their
chirality or handedness. With Stanford colleagues Joshua
Lederberg and Edward Feigenbaum, Carl played an important role in
developing the use of computer artificial intelligence techniques
for structure elucidation. He devised a computer program called
DENDRAL that allowed for the elucidation of the structures of
unknown organic compounds. This was done at a time (1965) when
most were not even aware of computers, let alone their
transformative potential and the emerging field of artificial
intelligence.
As might be expected from his pioneering
achievements in many areas, Carl was recognized with numerous
awards. Highlights among these were the National Medal of Science
(1973), the first Wolf Prize in Chemistry (1978), being inducted
into the National Inventors Hall of Fame (1978) and the National
Medal of Technology (1991). The American Chemical Society honored
him with many awards, including the Award in Pure Chemistry
(1958), the Priestley Medal (1992), and the Willard Gibbs Medal
(1997). Carl was a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences
and of its Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, as well as a foreign member of the Royal Society
(London), the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and the Royal
Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. He received many
honorary doctorates from universities all over the world.
After retiring from our Chemistry Department in
2002, and with the encouragement of his late wife Dianne
Middlebrook, Carl devoted himself to expressing science to the
general public in artistic forms including drama, fiction, and
poetry. And he did so with immense personal energy and with much
success. Actually, he had started on that theme before 2002, but
it accelerated significantly after his retirement. Many of his
colleagues enjoyed his book signing events, opening nights in the
theater district, and literary soirees in his San Francisco home.
His passion for educating the mind and soul will be missed across
the Stanford community.
Thank you to Paul Wender and Dick Zare who
contributed significantly to this note about Carl. A perspective
on Carl’s early time in our Department is found in Eric
Hutchinson’s History – 1891-1976 (see http://web.stanford.edu/group/swain/history/hutchinson/index.html,
Chapter 3). We will keep you informed about plans that are being
developed to recognize and honor Carl’s contributions.
-- Grace Baysinger Head Librarian & Bibliographer Swain Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Library Stanford University 364 Lomita Drive, Org Chem Bldg Stanford, CA 94305-5081 graceb**At_Symbol_Here**stanford.edu 650-725-1039, 650-725-2274 (Fax) http://library.stanford.edu/people/graceb http://library.stanford.edu/swain
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