Editing Carl Djerassi (section)

==Career==
In 1942/43, Djerassi worked for [[Chemical Industry Basel|CIBA]] in [[New Jersey]], developing [[Pyribenzamine]]<ref name=CHFOralHistory/> (tripelennamine), his first patent and one of the first commercial [[antihistamines]].<ref name=nytobit/><ref name="nature_ball"/>

In 1949 Djerassi became associate director of research at [[Syntex]] in [[Mexico City]] and remained there through 1951.<ref name=CHFOralHistory/> He has said that one factor influencing him to choose Syntex was that they had a [[DU spectrophotometer]].<ref name=Instrumentation>{{cite book|last1=Board on Physics and Astronomy, Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences|title=Instrumentation for a better tomorrow: proceedings of a symposium in honor of Arnold Beckman|date=2006|publisher=National Academies Press|location=Washington, D.C.|isbn=978-0-309-10116-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9wlYap6UfE8C&pg=PA14|access-date=May 28, 2015}}</ref> He worked on a new synthesis of [[cortisone]] based on [[diosgenin]], a [[steroid]] [[sapogenin]] derived from a Mexican wild yam.<ref name=Syntex2005>{{cite journal|last1=Rosenkranz|first1=George|title=The Early Days of Syntex|journal=Chemical Heritage Magazine|date=2005|volume=23|issue=2|pages=8–13}}</ref> His team later synthesized [[norethisterone]] (norethindrone),<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Djerassi | first1 = C. | last2 = Miramontes | first2 = L. | last3 = Rosenkranz | first3 = G. | last4 = Sondheimer | first4 = F. | title = Steroids. LIV.1Synthesis of 19-Nov-17α-ethynyltestosterone and 19-Nor-17α-methyltestosterone2 | doi = 10.1021/ja01645a010 | journal = Journal of the American Chemical Society | volume = 76 | issue = 16 | pages = 4092–4094 | year = 1954 | bibcode = 1954JAChS..76.4092D }}</ref> the first highly active [[progestin]] analogue that was effective when taken by mouth. This became part of one of the first successful combined oral contraceptive pills, known colloquially as the birth-control pill, or simply, [[the Pill]]. From 1952 to 1959 he was professor of chemistry at [[Wayne State University]] in Detroit.<ref name=CHFOralHistory/>

Djerassi participated in the invention in 1951, together with Mexican [[Luis E. Miramontes]] and Hungarian-Mexican [[George Rosenkranz]], of the [[progestin]] [[norethisterone]]—which, unlike [[progesterone]], remained effective when taken orally and was far stronger than the naturally occurring [[hormone]]. His preparation was first administered as an oral contraceptive to animals by [[Gregory Goodwin Pincus]] and [[Min Chueh Chang]] and to women by [[John Rock (American scientist)|John Rock]].<ref name=GaurdianObituary>{{cite news|title=Carl Djerassi obituary|last1=Hayman|first1=Suzie|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/feb/01/carl-djerassi|access-date=February 2, 2015|work=The Guardian|date=February 1, 2015}}</ref>

In 1957, he became vice president of research at Syntex in Mexico City while on leave of absence from Wayne State. In 1960 Djerassi became a professor of chemistry at [[Stanford University]],<ref name=CHFOralHistory/> a position he held until 2002 <ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-31/carl-djerassi-chemist-behind-birth-control-pill-dies-at-91 | work=Bloomberg | first=Laurence | last=Arnold | title=Carl Djerassi, Chemist Behind Birth-Control Pill, Dies at 91 | date=January 31, 2015}}</ref> but only part-time as he never left industry.<ref name=zare /> From 1968 until 1972 he also served as president of Syntex Research at [[Palo Alto]].<ref name=CHFOralHistory/>

The Syntex connection brought wealth to Djerassi. He bought a large tract of land in [[San Mateo County, California]], and started a cattle ranch called SMIP. (Initially an acronym for "Syntex Made It Possible", other variants have been suggested since.) He also assembled a large art collection. His collection of works by [[Paul Klee]] was considered to be one of the most significant to be privately held.<ref name=GuardianInterview/><ref name=ArtistsProgram>{{cite web|title=Djerassi Resident Artists Program|url=http://www.djerassi.org/programhistory.html|access-date=February 4, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214174510/http://djerassi.org/programhistory.html|archive-date=February 14, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> He arranged for his Klee collections to be donated to the [[Albertina]] in Vienna and the [[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]], effective on his death.<ref name=Tattler>{{cite web|title=Albertina's Modern Holdings Deepened by Transfer of Batliner Collection|url=http://arttattler.com/archivemodernmasterworks.html|website=Art Tattler International|access-date=February 4, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150204193917/http://arttattler.com/archivemodernmasterworks.html|archive-date=February 4, 2015}}</ref>

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Djerassi continued to do significant scientific work, as a professor in the department of chemistry at [[Stanford University]], and as an entrepreneur.  He pioneered novel physical research techniques for [[mass spectrometry]] and [[optical rotatory dispersion]] and applied them to the areas of [[organic chemistry]] and the life sciences.<ref name=Reinhardt2015/> Focusing on the steroid hormones and alkaloids, he elucidated the structure of steroids, an area in which he published over 1,200 papers.<ref name=nytobit/>  His scientific interests were wide-ranging, and his technological achievements include work in instrumentation, pharmaceuticals, insect control, the application of artificial intelligence in biomedical research, and the biology and chemistry of marine organisms.<ref name=Reinhardt2015/>

In 1968, he started a new company, Zoecon,<ref name=CHFOralHistory/> which focused on environmentally soft methods of [[pest control]], using modified insect growth hormones to stop insects from metamorphosing from the larval stage to the [[pupa]]l and adult stages.<ref name=Roaches>{{cite book|last1=Wells|first1=Ken|title=Herd on the street: animal stories from the Wall Street journal|date=2003|publisher=Free Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-7432-5420-5|pages=233–244|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PHQywCUie1AC&pg=PA234}}</ref> Zoecon was eventually acquired by [[Occidental Petroleum]], which later sold it to [[Sandoz]], now [[Novartis]]. Part of Zoecon survives in [[Dallas]], Texas, making products to control [[flea]]s and other pests.

In 1965 at Stanford University, nobel laureate [[Joshua Lederberg]], computer scientist [[Edward Feigenbaum]], and Djerassi devised the computer program [[Dendral|DENDRAL]] (dendritic algorithm) for the elucidation of the molecular structure of unknown organic compounds taken from known groups of such compounds, such as the alkaloids and the steroids.<ref name="NLM 2011">{{cite web|date=July 2011|title=The Joshua Lederberg Papers: Computers, Artificial Intelligence, and Expert Systems in Biomedical Research|work=Profiles in Science|location=Bethesda, Md.|publisher=[[United States National Library of Medicine|U.S. National Library of Medicine]]|url=http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/retrieve/Narrative/BB/p-nid/31|access-date=August 2, 2011}}</ref> This was a prototype for [[expert system]]s and one of the first uses of [[artificial intelligence]] in biomedical research.<ref name="NLM 2011"/>

Djerassi was a member of the Board of Sponsors of the ''[[Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]]''<ref>{{cite web|title=Board of Sponsors|work=[[Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]]|url=http://thebulletin.org/content/about-us/board-of-sponsors|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090218145005/http://thebulletin.org/content/about-us/board-of-sponsors|archive-date=February 18, 2009}}</ref> and was chairman of the [[Pharmanex]] Scientific Advisory Board.<ref>{{cite web|title=Carl Djerassi, Ph.D.| work=Pharmanews|publisher=[[Nu Skin Enterprises|Phamanex]]|url=http://www.pharmanex.com/corp/pharmanews/sab/carl_djerassi.shtml|access-date=December 17, 2006}}</ref>