Through fame and fortune, the Pill has brought Dr Djerassi a large and varied list of acquaintances.

ECONOMIST: LAST WORD: Godfather of the Pill | The

Dr Djerassi is all for reproductive technology which enhances personal choice, and ensures that children are genuinely wanted.

ECONOMIST: LAST WORD: Godfather of the Pill | The

Simon Mawer, a biology teacher turned novelist, and Carl Djerassi, a playwright and novelist who was once a chemistry professor.

ECONOMIST: Science in fiction is not science fiction

Dr Djerassi has been lucky enough to live up to the Pill.

ECONOMIST: LAST WORD: Godfather of the Pill | The

Dr Djerassi credits the Pill with pushing him beyond the hard edges of chemistry to consider the softer (ie, social and ethical) dimensions of new technology.

ECONOMIST: LAST WORD: Godfather of the Pill | The

As far as Dr Djerassi is concerned, it is largely cost and a lingering romanticism about old-fashioned conception that prevents more fertile couples from adopting this approach today.

ECONOMIST: LAST WORD: Godfather of the Pill | The

Apart from an impressive collection of work by Paul Klee, which Dr Djerassi still treasures, much of the rest was sold to found an artists' colony to commemorate his daughter, Pamela, whose artistic career was cut short by suicide.

ECONOMIST: LAST WORD: Godfather of the Pill | The

In Dr Djerassi's future world, men and women will have their sperm and eggs frozen in their 20s and then undergo sterilisation, free to pursue their professional and sexual interests content in the knowledge that their cells can be safely resurrected and reliably made to unite in a test-tube whenever they want a child.

ECONOMIST: LAST WORD: Godfather of the Pill | The