Scientist, Father of Birth Control Pill, Dies at 91

Carl Djerassi, the chemist widely considered the father of the birth control pill, has died. Djerrasi died of complications of cancer in his San Francisco home, Stanford University spokesman Dan Stober said. He was 91. Djerassi, a professor emeritus of chemistry at Stanford, was most famous for leading a research team in Mexico City that in 1951 developed norethindrone, a synthetic molecule that became a key component of the first birth control pill.

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