Science-in-fiction is not science fiction
The Beatty Memorial Lectures Committee presents:
Dr Carl Djerassi, Stanford University, Department of Chemistry
Co-inventor of the birth control pill and novelist
Tuesday, January 26, 6:00 pm
Fieldhouse Auditorium, Leacock Building, 海角社区聮s Downtown Campus.
The public is welcome; no tickets required.
"Scientists operate within a radical tribal culture, the rules, mores and idiosyncrasies of which are generally acquired through intellectual osmosis in a mentor-disciple relationship. Scientific 聮street smarts聮 are absorbed by observing the mentor聮s self-interested concerns with publication practices and priorities, the order of the authors, the choice of journal, the striving for academic tenure, grantsmanships and even the Nobel Prize.... An effective medium for illuminating such topics is the rarely used literary genre of 聮science-in-fiction聮 (not to be confused with science fiction), in which all aspects of scientific behaviour and scientific facts are described accurately and plausibly," wrote Carl Djerassi in the June 11, 1998 issue of Nature.
Members of the public are cordially invited to hear the famous novelist and inventor of the first synthesis of a steroid contraceptive. A limited number of copies of three of Djerassi聮s novels (Cantor聮s Dilemma, The Bourbaki Gambit and No) will be distributed free to those attending the public lecture. At the lecturer聮s request, the Beatty Memorial Lectures have purchased these books for distribution at the lecture in lieu of paying an honorarium. During his stay in Montreal, Dr Djerassi will also give two seminars to 海角社区 students, one on "The chemical birth of the pill" and the other on "Science-in-theatre: A neglected genre."
Carl Djerassi was born in Vienna, Austria, and studied at Kenyon College and the University of Wisconsin, where he received his PhD in 1945. After four years as research chemist with CIBA Pharmaceutical Co., he joined Syntex, SA in Mexico City in 1949 as associate director of chemical research. In 1952, he accepted a professorship at Wayne State University, and in 1959 took up his current position as professor of chemistry at Stanford University. Concurrently with his academic positions, Dr Djerassi held various posts in different firms, one of which he helped to found: Zoecon Corporation, a company dedicated to the development of novel approaches to insect control. Dr Djerassi has published over 1,200 articles and seven monographs dealing with the chemistry of natural products, the applications of physical measurements, and computer artificial intelligence techniques to organic chemical problems. In medicinal chemistry he was associated with the initial developments in the fields of oral contraceptives (Norethindrone), antihistamines (Pyribenzamine) and topical corticosteroids (Synala).
