--- title: Contraception: Chemist Carl Djerassi Who Helped Develop the Pill Dies description: Carl Djerassi, a 91-year-old Stanford chemist who helped to develop the birth control pill, passed away from cancer Friday in San Francisco. canonical: https://time.com/3691563/birth-control-pill-carl-djerassi-contraceptives-died/ author: Sabrina Toppa article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-02T03:21:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T08:10:02.813Z article:section: Science og:title: Chemist Who Helped Develop Birth Control Pill Dies og:description: Carl Djerassi, a 91-year-old Stanford chemist, passed away Friday og:url: https://time.com/3691563/birth-control-pill-carl-djerassi-contraceptives-died/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdbe39398a18193dd/69877d1d5f570f1b76b150ab/ap943097377637.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4352 og:image:height: 2448 og:image:alt: Carl Djerassi og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Chemist Who Helped Develop Birth Control Pill Dies twitter:description: Carl Djerassi, a 91-year-old Stanford chemist, passed away Friday twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdbe39398a18193dd/69877d1d5f570f1b76b150ab/ap943097377637.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Chemist Who Helped Develop the Pill Has Died > Sponsored content. 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Boris Roessler—AP by [Sabrina Toppa](https://time.com/author/sabrina-toppa/) ## Sabrina Toppa Feb 2, 2015 3:21 AM UTC Carl Djerassi, a 91-year-old Stanford chemist who helped to develop the birth control pill, [passed away](http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Stanford-chemist-who-developed-birth-control-pill-6053896.php) from cancer Friday in San Francisco. Djerassi’s scientific work led to the world’s first oral contraceptive in 1952, which gave women the option to control pregnancies. He developed a synthetic molecule called norethindrone, the effects of which simulated, in stronger form, those of progesterone. For his work, he earned an induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and received the presidential National Medal of Science, which only a few hundred scientists have received since its creation_._ “Carl was interested particularly in individual freedom and self-determination, and believed that all of us, women included, should have that opportunity,” said Dr. Philip Darney, the director of UCSF’s Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health. “He saw birth control and access to abortion as agents of that opportunity.” Djerassi, a polymath, penned three biographies _The Pill, Pygmy Chimps and Degas’ Horse_, _In Retrospect: From the Pill to the Pen_ and _This Man’s Pill_, and founded a free art residency program called the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, funded by earnings from the birth control pill. \[[_SF Gate_](http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Stanford-chemist-who-developed-birth-control-pill-6053896.php)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3691563/birth-control-pill-carl-djerassi-contraceptives-died/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3691563/birth-control-pill-carl-djerassi-contraceptives-died/"},"headline":"The Chemist Who Helped Develop the Pill Has Died","datePublished":"2015-02-02T03:21:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:10:02.813Z","description":"His scientific work led to the world's first oral contraceptive in 1952","url":"https://time.com/3691563/birth-control-pill-carl-djerassi-contraceptives-died/","keywords":["Chemistry","abortion","San Francisco","obituary","Birth Control","Stanford","birth control pill"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdbe39398a18193dd/69877d1d5f570f1b76b150ab/ap943097377637.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sabrina Toppa","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/sabrina-toppa/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdbe39398a18193dd/69877d1d5f570f1b76b150ab/ap943097377637.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Carl Djerassi","caption":"Carl Djerassi","creditText":"Boris Roessler—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/chemistry/","name":"Chemistry"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3691563/birth-control-pill-carl-djerassi-contraceptives-died/","name":"The Chemist Who Helped Develop the Pill Has Died"}}]}] ```