Carl Djerassi, emeritus professor of chemistry at Stanford University, is one of the few American scientists to have been awarded both the National Medal of Science (for the first synthesis of a steroid oral contraceptive--”the Pill”) and the National Medal of Technology (for promoting new approaches to insect control). A member of the US National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Society (London) as well as many other foreign academies, Djerassi has received 24 honorary doctorates together with numerous other honors, such as the first Wolf Prize in Chemistry, the first Award for the Industrial Application of Science from the National Academy of Sciences, the Erasmus Medal of the Academia Europeae, the Perkin Medal of the Society for Chemical Industry, the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Chemists, and the American Chemical Society’s highest award, the Priestley Medal. An Austrian postage stamp with his image was issued in 2005.
For the past 22 years, he has turned to fiction writing, mostly in the genre of “science-in-fiction,” whereby he illustrates, in the guise of realistic fiction, the human side of scientists and the personal conflicts faced by scientists in their quest for scientific knowledge, personal recognition, and financial rewards. In addition to 5 novels (“Cantor’s Dilemma;” “The Bourbaki Gambit;” “Marx, deceased;” “Menachem’s Seed;” “NO”), poetry (“The Clock runs backwards”), autobiography (“The Pill, Pygmy Chimps, and Degas’ Horse”) and memoir (“This Man’s Pill”), he embarked in 1997 on a trilogy of “science-in-theatre” plays. “AN IMMACULATE MISCONCEPTION”—first performed at the 1998 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and subsequently (1999 - 2005) in London, San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Detroit, Vienna, Munich, Cologne, Sundsvall, Stockholm, Sofia, Geneva, Seoul, Tokyo, Lisbon, and Singapore—has been translated into 12 languages and broadcast by BBC Radio on its World Service in 2000 as “Play of the Week,” in 2001 by the West German and Swedish Radio, in 2004 by NPR (USA) and in 2006 by Radio Prague. “OXYGEN” (co-authored with Roald Hoffmann) premiered in April 2001 at the San Diego Repertory Theatre, in September 2001 at the Mainfranken Theater in Würzburg and in November 2001 at the Riverside Studios in London and was broadcast by both BBC World Service and the West German Radio in December 2001. It has since been translated into 16 languages. “CALCULUS,” translated into 5 languages and published in book form in English, German and Italian, premiered in 2003 in San Francisco followed by a London production in 2004 as well as performances in Vienna, Munich, Berlin, Dresden, Dublin, Cambridge, and Munich. A chamber opera version (music by Werner Schulze) premiered in May 2005 in the Zurich Opera (Studiobühne).
Among his “non-scientific” plays, “EGO,” premiered at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and under the title “THREE ON A COUCH” in London (2004) and in 2008 in New York. A German translation of “EGO” was broadcast by the WDR in 2004, followed by its Austrian theatrical premiere in 2005 and a major German tour (Landgraf) in early 2006 and again early 2007. The London premiere of his fifth play (“PHALLACY”) with a science vs. art theme occurred in 2005 with a German radio version broadcast in early 2006 by the WDR; its New York premiere was held in May 2007. His sixth play, “TABOOS” opened in London in 2006 and had its German language premiere in July 2006 in Graz and its New York premiere in September 2008. Semi-staged readings of his most recent docudrama, “FOUR JEWS ON PARNASSUS—a Conversation” (dealing with Benjamin, Adorno, Scholem, and Schönberg) were held in 2006 in Berlin at the Walter Benjamin Festival and subsequently in Madison, WI, Stockholm, London, Cambridge, Vienna, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Bayreuth, Berlin, London, and San Francisco. His newest play, FOREPLAY (http://www.djerassi.com/foreplay/), dealing with Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin, and Theodor and Gretel Adorno, was published in book form in English, German, and Spanish in March 2011.
He is also the founder of the Djerassi Resident Artists Program near Woodside, California, which provides residencies and studio space for artists in the visual arts, literature, choreography and performing arts, and music. Over 2000 artists have passed through that program since its inception in 1982.
Djerassi lives in San Francisco, Vienna, and London.
Courtesy of Carl Djerassi's Official Site.