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Shay Samuel
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With the shirt on his back and the few things he could
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his people had dreamed of for centuries. Resettled with
the assistance of the Jewish Agency for Israel, the former
teacher now helps fellow Ethiopian Jews learn about
their new home in Israel.

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Dr. Carl Djerassi proclaims his Jewishness.

Discoverer Of The Pill
Discusses Jewishness

KIMBERLY LIFTON

Staff Writer

F

or Dr. Carl Djerassi,
who gained fame after
he developed the first
oral contraceptive, being
Jewish makes a big differ-
ence in the world of science.
At one time, he feared dis-
crimination because of his
Jewish heritage. But today,
he talks at length about his
Jewishness.
Dr. Djerassi was in Ann
Arbor recently discussing his
just published book, The
Pill, Pygmy Chimps, and
Degas' Horse, with scientists
at Parke-Davis phar-
maceutical research division
in Ann Arbor.
During an interview
before the speech, Dr.
Djerassi said he "felt
paranoid" about his Jew-
ishness before he became an
American citizen in 1945. At
university research depart-
ments, he said, there was
implied, not overt, discrim-
ination.
"Now I flaunt it," Dr.
Djerassi said. "I am not a
chemist; I am a Jewish
chemist."
In the book, he ponders
why he feels such a need to
openly display his origins.
"Many chemistry depart-
ments at major American
universities had not a single
Jewish faculty member, a
fact I was ready to ascribe to
active discrimination," he
said.
"To this day, I know
several Jewish colleagues of
my generation who refuse to
broach the subject of their
Jewish origin," he said.
"Is it because I have final-
ly turned impervious to

overt anti-Semitism, or be-
cause of the recognition that
I would not have become a
chemist if I hadn't been born
a Jew in Vienna? I didn't
have any childhood chem-
istry sets; I never blew up
our basement; prior to my
16th birthday, I never had
any chemistry nor did I have
a single chemical 'hero.'
"If I hadn't been born a
Jew, I wouldn't have left
Vienna and would doubtless
have ended up as an
Austrian physician —
possibly even one voting for
Kurt Waldheim. But I am a
Jew — and I never forget it."
In the book, Dr. Djerassi
provides many details, rang-
ing from developing the first
oral contraceptive to endow-
ing a foundation that has
supported more than 500
writers, sculptors, painters,
dancers and musicians in
the last 12 years.
He writes candidly about
his personal life — his
daughter's suicide, his three
marriages to non-Jewish
women, his parents' divorce,
and fleeing Vienna with
Bulgarian passports after
the Anschluss in 1938.
Dr. Djerassi's life took a
major turn in 1951, in the
Syntax lab in Mexico City.
He was a 28-year-old chem-
ist who used steroids from
locally grown yams to syn-
thesize the anti-
inflammatory agent cor-
tisone. The result was a
chemical breakthrough.
Using a similar process,
his research team developed
another unique chemical
compound — this time
resulting in a medical and
cultural revolution: the oral
contraceptive.
Today, more than 40 years