CARL DJERASSI, born in Vienna but educated in the US, is a writer and professor of chemistry emeritus at Stanford University. Author of over 1200 scientific publications and seven monographs, he is one of the few American scientists to have been awarded both the National Medal of Science (in 1973, for the first synthesis of a steroid oral contraceptive--”the Pill”) and the National Medal of Technology (in 1991, for promoting new approaches to insect control). A member of the US National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as well as many foreign academies, Djerassi has received 21 honorary doctorates together with numerous other recognitions, such as the first Wolf Prize in Chemistry, the first Award for the Industrial Application of Science from the National Academy of Sciences, the American Chemical Society’s highest award, the Priestley Medal, and more recently, the Erasmus Medal of the Academia Europaea (2003), the Great Merit Cross of Germany (2003), the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Chemists (2004), the Serono Prize in Literature (Rome, 2005), the Lichtenberg Medal of the Academy of Sciences (Göttingen, 2005) and the great Merit Cross for Services to Austria (2008). An Austrian postage stamp with his image was issued in 2005.

He has published short stories, poetry (The Clock runs backward) and five novels (Cantor’s Dilemma; The Bourbaki Gambit; Marx, deceased; Menachem’s Seed; NO)—that illustrate as “science-in-fiction” the human side of science and the personal conflicts faced by scientists—as well as an autobiography (The Pill, Pygmy Chimps and Degas’ Horse) and a memoir (THIS MAN’S PILL: Reflections on the 50^th birthday of the Pill).

During the past ten years he has mainly focused on play-writing, initially of “science-in-theatre” plays. The first, AN IMMACULATE MISCONCEPTION, premiered at the 1998 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and was subsequently staged in London (New End Theatre in 1999 and Bridewell Theatre in 2002), San Francisco (Eureka), New York (Primary Stages), Vienna (Jugendstiltheater), Cologne (Theater am Tanzbrunnen), Munich (Deutsches Museum), Berlin (Gorki Theater group), Sundsvall (Teater Västernorrland), Stockholm (Dramaten), Sofia (Satire Theatre), Geneva (Theatre du Grütli), Tokyo (Bunkyo Civic Hall Theatre), Seoul, Los Angeles (L.A. Theatre Works), Lisbon (Teatro da Trindade), Singapore (Singapore Repertory Theatre), Detroit (Hilberry Theatre) and Zurich.The play has been translated into 11 languages and also published in book form in English, German, Spanish, and Swedish. It was broadcast by BBC World Service in 2000 as “play of the week,” by the West German (WDR) and Swedish Radio in 2001, by NPR in the USA in 2004, and in Czech by Radio Prague in 2006.

His second play, OXYGEN, co-authored with Roald Hoffmann, premiered in April 2001 at the San Diego Repertory Theatre, at the Mainfranken Theater in Würzburg in Sept. 2001 through April 2002 (as well as in Munich, Leverkusen and Halle), at the Riverside Studios in London in Nov. 2001, and subsequently in New Zealand (Circa Theatre, Wellington), Korea (Pohang, Seoul and national tour), Tokyo (Setagaya Tram Theatre), Toronto, Madison, WI, Columbus,OH, Ottawa, Bologna (Italy), Bulgaria (Sofia, Satire Theatre), Glasgow, Portugal (Porto, Seiva Trupe), Brazil (Sao Paulo & Rio de Janeiro) as well as many other German and American venues. Both the BBC and the WDR broadcast the play in Dec. 2001 around the centenary of the Nobel Prize—one of that play’s main themes. It has so far been translated into 15 languages and has already appeared in book form in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, and Catalan.

His third play, CALCULUS, dealing with the infamous Newton-Leibniz priority struggle, has been translated into 5 languages and has appeared in book form in English, German, and Italian. Staged rehearsed readings were held in Berkeley (Aurora Theatre), London (Royal Institution), Vienna (Museum Quartier), Munich (Deutsches Museum), Berlin (Brandenburg Academy), Dresden (Semper Oper) and Oxford (Oxford Playhouse). A full production opened in San Francisco (Performing Arts Library & Museum) in April 2003, with the London premiere following in the New End Theatre in July 2004 and productions in 2005 in Dublin (Trinity College) Cambridge (ADC Theatre), and Munich (2008). A musical version (composed by Werner Schulze and directed by Isabella Gregor) opened in the Zurich Opera Studiobühne in May 2005.

His first “non-scientific” play, “EGO,” premiered at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe; its themes are further explored in “THREE ON A COUCH,” which opened in London (King’s Head Theatre) in March 2004. A German translation has been published in book form and has been broadcast by the WDR in June 2004; the Austrian theatrical premiere of “EGO” (Niederösterreichisches Landestheater) occurred in October 2005 and a major national German tour (Landgraf) occurred in February – April 2006 and repeated in 2007. Its New York opening (Soho Playhouse) was held in May 2008. THREE ON A COUCH has also been translated into Czech and Russian. The London premiere of his fifth play (“PHALLACY”) with a science vs. art theme occurred in April 2005 at the New End Theatre and then transferred to the King’s Head Theatre in May, with a New York Premiere (Cherry Lane Theatre) in May, 2007. The West German Radio (WDR) broadcast a German translation in March 2006. His newest play, “TABOOS,” premiered in London (New End Theatre) in 2006 and in German in July 2006 in Graz, Austria (Theater am Bahnhof) and with New York (Soho Playhouse) and Bulgarian premieres in 2008. “EGO,” “PHALLACY” and “TABOOS” have already appeared in book form. A docudrama (“FOUR JEWS ON PARNASSUS”) dealing with Benjamin, Adorno, Scholem, and Schönberg, had its first staged dramatic readings at the Walter Benjamin Festival in Berlin in October 2006 and has since been presented at the University of Wisconsin, the Freud Museum (London), Cambridge University as well as in Las Palmas, Spain (Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno), in various Austrian venues (e.g. Semper Depot, Albertina Museum, Schönberg Center, Univ. f. angew. Kunst), at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, and at the Austrian Cultural Forum in Berlin and London.

In addition, he is the author of two “pedagogic wordplays” to be used in schools in lieu of lectures. The first, “ICSI-Sex in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction” has been published in book form in English, German, Chinese, and Italian and performed in schools in the USA, Germany, Austria, Taiwan and Italy. The second, “NO,” written with Pierre Laszlo was published in 2003 in English, German and French.

Djerassi is 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 1800 artists have passed through that program since its inception in 1982. Djerassi lives in San Francisco, London, and Vienna.

(There is a Web site about Carl Djerassi’s writing at http://www.djerassi.com)