GEORGE ROSENKRANZ: BIOGRAPHY AND CONTRIBUTIONS - BIOGRAPHIES - 2025

George Rosenkranz (1916-2019) was a chemist of Hungarian origin, known primarily for having synthesized progesterone. His experiment allowed the creation of one of the first birth control pills, which is why he is considered by many to be the father of the pill.

The importance of its discovery was that it was able to give women control over their fertility, radically modifying sexuality and birth rates in modern society.

Source: Science History Institute, via Wikimedia Commons.

His studies were carried out during the 1950s, together with Carl Djerassi, another chemist of Jewish origin. Interestingly, both scientists were refugees after the Nazi occupation of Europe.

Rosenkranz's synthesis of progesterone was used in one of the first two oral birth control pills. These combined oral pills, which were approved in the United States in 1960, are still in use today.

His work was not based only in the scientific field. After his studies, he became an activist and faithful defender of the accessibility of birth control pills for anyone.

Biography

Early years

George Rosenkranz was born on August 20, 1916 in Budapest, the capital of Hungary. He was the only child of a middle-class couple of Jewish descent. His father ran a dance studio and his mother took care of the home.

Rosenkranz's parents attached great importance to their son's artistic training and during his childhood music, art and theater were disciplines very present in his life. He showed great aptitude for languages, but where he really showed great interest was in the scientific area, especially chemistry.

In 1933 he attended university, when he entered the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Switzerland. There he enrolled in a course on organic chemistry that was taught by Lavoslav Ruzicka, who in the future would win a Nobel Prize.

Ruzicka became one of the first major influences Rosenkranz had during his career. Back then, the Hungarian master was working on synthesizing testosterone (which is the male sex hormone). By 1937, Rosenkranz was part of Ruzicka's doctorate and three years later he collected his degree.

Flight

During those years Nazism was gaining power and spreading its presence throughout Europe. Ruzicka protected Rosenkranz in Zurich, as she did with other fellow Jews, but ultimately Rosenkranz decided to leave Europe to avoid putting his teacher at risk.

He got a job opportunity in Ecuador and his idea to be able to present himself consisted of traveling to Spain and making a stopover in Cuba, until finally reaching Ecuadorian soil. When the Hungarian arrived in Havana, the conflict began at Pearl Harbor and he was never able to continue his journey to reach Ecuador.

In Cuba he looked for work and got a position at the Vieta-Plasencia Laboratories. His role in this company was very important because he participated in the design of methods to treat venereal diseases.

His time at Syntex

In 1945 Rosenkranz received a call to join Syntex, a company located in Mexico City. Syntex's goal was to research synthetic hormones and produce them. This development of a synthetic hormone was carried out by taking diosgenin as its base, a plant hormone that can be found in yams in Mexico.

Rosenkranz was given the position of lead chemist at the company after a first interview. He spent the rest of his career at the professional level in this company, where he became CEO and president of Syntex, until he retired in 1981.

Rosenkranz had a limitless budget at Syntex and, because of that, was able to build a team with the best organic chemists in the world. Among them he chose Carl Djerassi and Alejandro Zaffaroni.

He managed to participate in different advances and ways of producing steroids during his years at Syntex, the use of plants native to Mexico being key to this.

In 1951, norethindrone was synthesized at Syntex, being the first oral contraceptive element that was achieved effectively. During that stage he was the director of the company, which became the most important supplier of contraceptive pills in the world.

Personal life

In 1945, while residing in Cuba, he met Edith Stein, a Jewish refugee originally from Austria. With her he had three children, Roberto, Ricardo and Gerardo (who died in 2011).

In 1949 he acquired Mexican nationality and at the age of 90 he became a US citizen.

Rosenkranz died on June 23, 2019, while at his home in Atherton, California. His son Roberto was in charge of reporting the death, which occurred due to natural causes.

Contributions

Naproxen

One of the scientific advances made by Rosenkranz was to have produced naproxen. It was an anti-inflammatory medicine that was used to treat diseases such as arthritis.

Birth control pill

Part of Rosenkranz's work focused on creating a progesterone steroid. For this he worked with two other chemists: Djerassi and Luis Miramontes. Miramontes was in charge of almost all the practical part of the study and achieved the synthesis of norethindrone. It then became the first oral contraceptive to be created.

The idea of ​​the group of scientists was that this progesterone steroid had two consequences. To begin with, one of the ideas was to elevate the action of the compound by replacing carbon-19 with hydrogen, while the other effect was to add acetylene to prevent it from being absorbed in the digestive tract.

In the beginning, progesterone was used to treat menstrual disorders and infertility problems. Its efficiency as a contraceptive was slow to gain adherents, especially because of how conservative society was at that time.

By 1960, the first version of the contraceptive pill was approved to be commercialized. This event marked a before and after in feminism and created an extensive debate on sexual values.

Influence

More than 150 patents bear the Rosenkranz name and more than 300 articles on steroid hormones are authored. Once retired he was part of different organizations such as the New York Academy of Sciences or the Weizmann Institute of Science.

His contributions were not only focused on the scientific area, but he also stood out as a bridge player with his wife. He wrote more than ten books on the subject and won multiple championships in the United States. He even created the Rosenkranz double and roll, bridge plays.

References

1. Bohuon, C., & Monneret, C. (2014). Fabuleux hasards. Les Ulis: EDP Sciences.
2. Chemical Heritage Foundation. (1998). Introducing the chemical sciences. Philadelphia, Pa.
3. Ness, R. (2013). Genius unmasked. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
4. Sismondo, S., & Greene, J. (2015). The pharmaceutical studies reader. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.
5. Soto Laveaga, G. (2010). Jungle laboratories. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.