The Pill, Pygmy Chimps, and Degas' Horse PDF Download
Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download The Pill, Pygmy Chimps, and Degas' Horse PDF full book. Access full book title The Pill, Pygmy Chimps, and Degas' Horse by Carl Djerassi. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.
Author: Carl Djerassi Publisher: Plunkett Lake Press ISBN: Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
This unusually wide-ranging memoir, moving from Europe to America, academia to industry, science to art, triumph to tragedy, is the idiosyncratic life story of Carl Djerassi, teenage refugee from Nazism and prodigiously gifted chemist who experimented with a local yam in Mexico, synthesized steroids and, along with Gregory Pincus and John Rock, fathered the birth control pill. In this personal, incisive account, Djerassi tells the story of an extraordinarily driven and successful scientist-businessman, who taught for decades at Stanford University while maintaining a foothold in industry, married three times, had two children, and became an art collector as well as author and playwright. He describes how he lost his only daughter to suicide and his beloved third wife, biographer Diane Middlebrook, to cancer and how he has continued to live his extraordinary life. “Mr. Djerassi has a great deal to be immodest about… He is the very model of the scientist-businessman who knows how to turn his discoveries into commercially useful and profitable enterprises without jeopardizing his academic standing…” — The New York Times “Djerassi became enormously wealthy thanks to the soaring value of the Syntex stock acquired when he worked at the company... where he led the research team that synthesized the first orally active steroid contraceptive compound... and he took up art (and house) collecting. Emotionally, his life was turbulent: he married three times, and had to face the tragedy of his daughter’s suicide in 1978. His marvellous first autobiography, The Pill, Pygmy Chimps and Degas’ Horse, covers this era in his life.” — Nature “The pill here is the first oral contraceptive, synthesized by the author at age 28 in 1951; pygmy chimps were the subjects of a mid-career biomedical experiment and Degas's horse represents the delights of art collecting, to which the award-winning scientist turned in later life… Shattering the cliche of scientists as one-dimensional technocrats, the book reveals a singular life with more than its share of pain, self-discovery, danger, wit, joy and irony.” — Publishers Weekly “Carl Djerassi, who is a scientist, artist, philosopher and mensch all in one, has produced the very best of scientific autobiography… Read this book.” — Stephen Jay Gould “I found the first few pages so interesting that for two days I neglected my work in order to read the book from beginning to end.” — Linus Pauling, Nobel Laureate “Delightfully unconventional… hilarious and wide-ranging.” — Arthur C. Clarke
Author: Carl Djerassi Publisher: Plunkett Lake Press ISBN: Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
This unusually wide-ranging memoir, moving from Europe to America, academia to industry, science to art, triumph to tragedy, is the idiosyncratic life story of Carl Djerassi, teenage refugee from Nazism and prodigiously gifted chemist who experimented with a local yam in Mexico, synthesized steroids and, along with Gregory Pincus and John Rock, fathered the birth control pill. In this personal, incisive account, Djerassi tells the story of an extraordinarily driven and successful scientist-businessman, who taught for decades at Stanford University while maintaining a foothold in industry, married three times, had two children, and became an art collector as well as author and playwright. He describes how he lost his only daughter to suicide and his beloved third wife, biographer Diane Middlebrook, to cancer and how he has continued to live his extraordinary life. “Mr. Djerassi has a great deal to be immodest about… He is the very model of the scientist-businessman who knows how to turn his discoveries into commercially useful and profitable enterprises without jeopardizing his academic standing…” — The New York Times “Djerassi became enormously wealthy thanks to the soaring value of the Syntex stock acquired when he worked at the company... where he led the research team that synthesized the first orally active steroid contraceptive compound... and he took up art (and house) collecting. Emotionally, his life was turbulent: he married three times, and had to face the tragedy of his daughter’s suicide in 1978. His marvellous first autobiography, The Pill, Pygmy Chimps and Degas’ Horse, covers this era in his life.” — Nature “The pill here is the first oral contraceptive, synthesized by the author at age 28 in 1951; pygmy chimps were the subjects of a mid-career biomedical experiment and Degas's horse represents the delights of art collecting, to which the award-winning scientist turned in later life… Shattering the cliche of scientists as one-dimensional technocrats, the book reveals a singular life with more than its share of pain, self-discovery, danger, wit, joy and irony.” — Publishers Weekly “Carl Djerassi, who is a scientist, artist, philosopher and mensch all in one, has produced the very best of scientific autobiography… Read this book.” — Stephen Jay Gould “I found the first few pages so interesting that for two days I neglected my work in order to read the book from beginning to end.” — Linus Pauling, Nobel Laureate “Delightfully unconventional… hilarious and wide-ranging.” — Arthur C. Clarke
Author: Andrea Tone Publisher: Macmillan ISBN: 0809038161 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 389
Book Description
From thriving black market to big business, the commercialization of birth control in the United States In Devices and Desires, Andrea Tone breaks new ground by showing what it was really like to buy, produce, and use contraceptives during a century of profound social and technological change. A down-and-out sausage-casing worker by day who turned surplus animal intestines into a million-dollar condom enterprise at night; inventors who fashioned cervical caps out of watch springs; and a mother of six who kissed photographs of the inventor of the Pill -- these are just a few of the individuals who make up this riveting story.
Author: John Krige Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1134406932 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 986
Book Description
With over forty chapters, written by leading scholars, this comprehensive volume represents the best work in America, Europe, and Asia. Geographical diversity of the authors is reflected in the different perspectives devoted to the subject, and all major disciplinary developments are covered. There are also sections concerning the countries that have made the most significant contributions, the relationship between science and industry, the importance of instrumentation, and the cultural influence of scientific modes of thought. Students and professionals will come to appreciate how, and why, science has developed - as with any other human activity, it is subject to the dynamics of society and politics.
Author: Peter J. T. Morris Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry ISBN: 9780854044795 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 386
Book Description
Most chemists today have either taken part in, or been affected by, the chemical revolution that has taken place over the course of the last century. Developments in instrumentation have changed not just what chemists do, but also how they think about chemistry. New and exciting areas of previously inaccessible research have been opened up as a direct result of this revolution. This is the first book to examine this instrumental revolution and goes on to assess the impact on chemical practice in areas ranging from organic chemistry and biochemistry to environmental analysis and process control, thus demonstrating how fundamental and extensive are the changes that have occurred. With contributions from internationally recognised specialists, this lavishly illustrated book provides a focal point for any historian of chemistry or chemist with an interest in this fascinating topic. This book is published in association with the Science Museum, London, UK and the Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia.
Author: Walter Grünzweig Publisher: LIT Verlag Münster ISBN: 364390231X Category : Chemistry Languages : en Pages : 275
Book Description
This title presents criticism, commentaries, and creative responses to Carl Djerassi's literary texts, taking the author's achievements far beyond 'the Pill'
Author: Patrick Wright Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0199239681 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 507
Book Description
'From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. . .' With these words Winston Churchill famously warned the world in a now legendary speech given in Fulton, Missouri, on March 5, 1946. Launched as an evocative metaphor, the 'Iron Curtain' quickly became a brutal reality in the Cold War between Capitalist West and Communist East. Not surprisingly, for many years, people on both sides of the division have assumed that the story of the Iron Curtain began with Churchill's 1946 speech.In this fascinating investigation, Patrick Wright shows that this was decidedly not the case. Starting with its original use to describe an anti-fire device fitted into theatres, Iron Curtain tells the story of how the term evolved into such a powerful metaphor and the myriad ways in which it shapedthe world for decades before the onset of the Cold War. Along the way, it offers fascinating perspectives on a rich array of historical characters and developments, from the lofty aspirations and disappointed fate of early twentieth century internationalists, through the topsy-turvy experiences of the first travellers to Soviet Russia, to thetheatricalization of modern politics and international relations. And, as Wright poignantly suggests, the term captures a particular way of thinking about the world that long pre-dates the Cold War - and did not disappear with the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Author: C. Wayne Bardin Publisher: Academic Press ISBN: 1483289036 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 497
Book Description
Recent Progress in Hormone Research, Volume 50: Proceedings of the 1993 Laurentian Hormone Conference focuses on the advancements of processes, methodologies, techniques, and approaches involved in hormone research. The selection first offers information on the molecular design of the NMDA receptor channel; synthesis and signaling of growth hormone-releasing hormone; and signaling mechanisms during the response of pituitary gonadotropes to GnRH. The discussions focus on calcium economy of gonadotropes, role of oscillations, structure and expression of the GHRH gene, transgenic animal models for GHRH action, and functional determinants in NMDA receptors. The text then elaborates on signaling mechanisms during the response of pituitary gonadotropes to GnRH; molecular genetic analysis of cAMP and glucocorticoid signaling in development; and activins and the receptor serine kinase superfamily. The publication takes a look at MAP kinase cascade, expression and signal transduction pathways of gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptors, ovarian cell differentiation, and the role of oxytocin and its receptor in parturition. The book also examines the role of prolactin in developmental differentiation of hypophysiotropic tuberoinfundibular dopaminergic neurons and calcitonin gene expression in rat uterus during pregnancy. The selection is a valuable source of data for researchers interested in hormone research. Neuroendocrinology Transmembrane signaling Reproduction Steroids and the steroid receptor family Hypertension
Author: Elizabeth Siegel Watkins Publisher: JHU Press ISBN: 1421403714 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 204
Book Description
"In 1968, a popular writer ranked the pill's importance with the discovery of fire and the developments of tool-making, hunting, agriculture, urbanism, scientific medicine, and nuclear energy. Twenty-five years later, the leading British weekly, the Economist, listed the pill as one of the seven wonders of the modern world. The image of the oral contraceptive as revolutionary persists in popular culture, yet the nature of the changes it supposedly brought about has not been fully investigated. After more than thirty-five years on the market, the role of the pill is due for a thorough examination."—from the Introduction In this fresh look at the pill's cultural and medical history, Elizabeth Siegel Watkins re-examines the scientific and ideological forces that led to its development, the part women played in debates over its application, and the role of the media, medical profession, and pharmaceutical industry in deciding issues of its safety and meaning. Her study helps us not only to understand the contraceptive revolution as such but also to appreciate the misinterpretations that surround it.
Author: Lara Marks Publisher: Yale University Press ISBN: 0300167911 Category : Medical Languages : en Pages : 416
Book Description
BIRTH CONTROL, CONTRACEPTION, FAMILY PLANNING. Heralded as the catalyst of the sexual revolution and the solution to global overpopulation, the contraceptive pill was one of the twentieth century's most important inventions. It has not only transformed the lives of millions of women but has also pushed the limits of drug monitoring and regulation across the world. This deeply-researched new history of the oral contraceptive shows how its development and use have raised crucial questions about the relationship between science, medicine, technology, and society. Lara Marks explores the reasons why the pill took so long to be developed and explains why it did not prove to be the social panacea envisioned by its inventors. Unacceptable to the Catholic Church, rejected by countries such as India and Japan, too expensive for women in poor countries, it has, more recently, been linked to cardiovascular problems.
Author: Carl Djerassi
Author: Carl Djerassi
Author: Andrea Tone
Author: John Krige
Author: Peter J. T. Morris
Author: University of California, San Francisco
Author: Walter Grünzweig
Author: Patrick Wright
Author: C. Wayne Bardin
Author: Elizabeth Siegel Watkins
Author: Lara Marks