View source for Gregory G. Pincus

{{Short description|American biochemist (1903–1967), inventor of the contraceptive pill}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name             = Gregory Goodwin Pincus
| image            = Gregory Pincus.jpg
| image_size       =
| caption          = 
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1903|04|09}}
| birth_place      = [[Woodbine, New Jersey]], U.S.
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1967|08|22|1903|04|09}}
| death_place      = [[Boston, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| citizenship      = [[United States nationality law|United States]]
| field            = [[Biology]]
| work_institution = [[Harvard University]] <br/> [[Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology]]
| alma_mater       = [[Cornell University]] <br/> [[Harvard University]]
| doctoral_advisor = 
| known_for        = [[Combined oral contraceptive pill]]
| prizes           = [[Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh]] {{small|(1966)}}
| spouse           = Elizabeth Notkin (died 1988) 
| children         = 2
}}

'''Gregory Goodwin Pincus''' (April 9, 1903 – August 22, 1967) was an American [[biologist]] and researcher who co-invented the [[combined oral contraceptive pill]].<ref name=obit/>

==Early life==
Pincus was one of five siblings born in [[Woodbine, New Jersey]], to immigrant parents of [[History of the Jews in Russia|Russian Jewish]] origin.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Gregory Goodwin Pincus (1903-1967) {{!}} The Embryo Project Encyclopedia|url=https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/gregory-goodwin-pincus-1903-1967|access-date=2021-01-26|website=embryo.asu.edu}}</ref> His father was Joseph Pincus, a teacher and the editor of a farm journal, and his mother was Elizabeth ({{née|Lipman}}), whose family had come from the region that is now [[Latvia]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.bookrags.com/biography/gregory-goodwin-pincus/|title=Gregory Goodwin Pincus Summary|via=www.bookrags.com}}</ref> Pincus's [[Intelligence quotient|IQ]] was said to be 210, and his family considered him a genius.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Chapter 21 |title=[[The Fifties (book)|The Fifties]] |publisher=[[Villard (imprint)|Villard]] |author=David Halberstam |author-link=David Halberstam |year=1993 |page=[https://archive.org/details/fifties00halb/page/288 289] |quote=The family always believed him to be a genius. His IQ was said to be 210.}}</ref>

==Research==
{{Moresources | section|date=March 2024}}
Pincus began studying hormonal biology and [[Steroid hormone|steroidal hormones]] early in his career. He was interested in the way that hormones affected mammalian reproductive systems. His first breakthrough came when he was able to produce [[in vitro fertilization]] in rabbits in 1934. In 1936, he published his experiments' results.{{citation needed|date=June 2024}} His experiments involving [[parthenogenesis]] produced a rabbit that appeared on the cover of ''Look'' magazine{{citation needed|date=June 2024}} in 1937. To create the in-vitro rabbit offspring, Pincus removed the [[Egg cell|ovum]] from the mother rabbit and placed it in a solution mixture of saline and [[estrone]].  Afterwards, he placed the "fertilized" ovum back into the rabbit. Pincus's experiment became known{{By whom|date=June 2024}} as "Pincogenesis" because other scientists were unable to reproduce Pincus's results. After he was misquoted in an interview, it was believed that his experiment was the beginning of the use of in vitro fertilization by humans.<ref>Charles W. Carey Jr. "Pincus, Gregory Goodwin".</ref>

In 1944, Pincus co-founded the [[Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology]] in [[Shrewsbury, Massachusetts]]. He wanted to continue his research on the relationship between hormones and conditions such as (but not limited to) cancer, heart disease, and [[schizophrenia]]. By the end of the 1960s, more than 300 international researchers came to participate{{Explain| date = June 2024}} in the [[Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research|Worcester Foundation of Experimental Biology]].<ref name="Carey">Carey</ref>

Pincus remained interested in mammalian reproduction systems and began to research [[infertility]].<ref name="Carey"/> In 1951, [[Margaret Sanger]] met Pincus at a dinner hosted by Abraham Stone, the director of the [[Clinical Research Bureau|Margaret Sanger Research Bureau]] and medical director and vice president of the [[Planned Parenthood Federation of America]] (PPFA), and procured a small grant from the PPFA for Pincus to begin hormonal contraceptive research. Pincus, along with [[Min Chueh Chang]], confirmed earlier research that [[progesterone]] would act as an inhibitor to [[ovulation]].

In 1952, Sanger told her friend [[Katharine McCormick]] about Pincus and Chang's research. Frustrated by PPFA's meager interest and support, McCormick and Sanger met with Pincus in 1953 to dramatically expand the scope of the research with a 50-fold increase in funding from McCormick. Pincus was interested by Sanger's work with impoverished women with histories of many pregnancies. Sanger indirectly influenced him to create a successful contraceptive to prevent [[Unintended pregnancy|unwanted pregnancies]].<ref name="Carey"/>

In order to prove the safety of "the pill," [[Clinical trial|human trials]] had to be conducted. These were initiated among infertility patients of [[John Rock (American scientist)|John Rock]] in [[Brookline, Massachusetts]], using progesterone in 1953 and then three different progestins in 1954. [[Puerto Rico]] was selected as a [[Contraceptive trials in Puerto Rico|trial site in 1955]], in part because there was an existing network of 67 birth control clinics serving low-income women on the island. Trials began there in 1956 and were supervised by [[Edris Rice-Wray]] and [[Celso-Ramón García]].{{cn|date=March 2024}}

Some of the women experienced side effects from the trial medication [[Mestranol/norethynodrel|(Enovid)]], and Rice-Wray reported to Pincus that Enovid "gives one hundred percent protection against pregnancy [but causes] too many side reactions to be acceptable". Pincus and Rock disagreed with Rice-Wray based on their experience with patients in Massachusetts and their research found that [[Placebo|placebos]] caused similar side effects. Subsequently, trials were expanded to [[Haiti]], [[Mexico]], and [[Los Angeles]]{{em dash}}despite high [[Attrition (research)|attrition]]{{em dash}}to accommodate rising interest. In May 1960, the [[Food and Drug Administration|American Food and Drug Administration]] extended Enovid's approved indications to include contraception.{{cn|date=March 2024}}

==Personal life==
Pincus married Elizabeth Notkin (1900–1988) in 1924 and they had two children together.<ref name="Carey"/>

==Awards==
Pincus was the recipient of numerous awards for his research. He was awarded the Oliver Bird Prize in 1960; the [[Julius Arnold Koch|Julius A. Koch]] Award in 1962; the [[Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh]] in 1966; and the [[AMA Scientific Achievement Award|American Medical Association’s Scientific Achievement Award]] in 1967.<ref name="Carey"/>  

Pincus was acknowledged for his creation of the Laurentian Hormone Conference (which was a conference of [[Endocrinology|endocrinologists]]). He served as the chairman of the conference, and its purpose was to discuss the hormones of the [[endocrine system]]. The conference was attended by endocrinologists from all over the world.{{cn|date=March 2024}}

==Death==
He died in 1967 of [[myeloid metaplasia]], a [[Tumors of the hematopoietic and lymphoid tissues|blood cancer]], in Boston, Massachusetts. He was 64 years old and lived in [[Northborough, Massachusetts]].<ref name=obit>{{cite news |title=Dr. Pincus, Developer of Birth-Control Pill, Dies |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0409.html|newspaper=[[New York Times]] |date=August 23, 1967 |access-date=2007-07-21 }}</ref> His funeral was held August 25, 1967 at [[Temple Emanuel Sinai (Worcester, Massachusetts)|Temple Emanuel]] in [[Worcester, Massachusetts]].<ref>"Dr. Pincus, Developer of Birth Control Pill, Dead; Funeral Services to Be Held Friday", ''Jewish Telegraphic Agency'', August 24, 1967.</ref>

==Lasting impact==
Pincus' [[birth control pill]] changed family life in a significant way, because it allowed women to choose—for the first time—when they would have children and plan accordingly around this decision in a deliberate manner. The birth control pill helped pave the way for the [[women's liberation]] and concomitant [[Sexual Revolution]] movements.<ref name="Carey"/>

==See also==
* [[Birth control movement in the United States]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{Citation | author=Briggs, Laura | title=Reproducing Empire: Race, Sex Science, and U.S. Imperialism in Puerto Rico | location=Los Angeles | publisher=University Of California Press | year=2002 | isbn=0-520-23258-5}}
* {{Citation | author=Tone, Andrea | title=Devices and Desires | location=New York | publisher=Hill and Wang, A Division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux | year=2001 | isbn=0-8090-3817-X | url=https://archive.org/details/devicesdesireshi00tone }}
* {{Citation | author=Asbell, Bernard | title=The Pill | location=New York | publisher=Random House | year=1995 | isbn=0-679-43555-7 | url=https://archive.org/details/pillthe00bern }}
*{{Citation
|pmid = 1327714
|last=Jensen
|first=E V
|date=Oct 1992
|title=Remembrance: Gregory Pincus--catalyst for early receptor studies
|volume=131
|issue=4
|periodical=Endocrinology
|pages=1581–2
|doi = 10.1210/endo.131.4.1327714
}}
*{{Citation
|pmid = 4581418
|last=Vojta
|first=M
|date=Jul 1973
|title=[Gregory G. Pincus, 1903-1967]
|volume=38
|issue=6
|periodical=Ceskoslovenská gynekologie
|pages=472–3
}}
*{{Citation
|pmid = 11615461
|last=Ingle
|first=D J
|year=1971
|title=Gregory Goodwin Pincus, April 9, 1903-August 22, 1967
|volume=42
|periodical=Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences
|pages=229–70
}}
*{{Citation
|pmid = 4882600
|last=Garcia
|first=C R
|year=1968
|title=Gregory Goodwin Pincus. 1903-1967
|volume=13
|issue=4
|periodical=Int. J. Fertil.
|pages=267–9
}}
*{{Citation
|pmid = 4887486
|last=Hoagland
|first=H
|date=Sep 1968
|title=Gregory Goodwin Pincus
|volume=60
|issue=1
|periodical=Genetics
|pages=Suppl:27
|no-pp = true
}}
*{{Citation
|pmid = 4912220
|last=White
|first=A
|date=Apr 1968
|title=Gregory Goodwin Pincus (1903-1967)
|volume=82
|issue=4
|periodical=Endocrinology
|pages=651–4
|doi = 10.1210/endo-82-4-651
}}
*{{Citation
|pmid = 4878434
|last=Garcia
|first=C R
|date=Sep 1968
|title=Gregory Goodwin Pincus (1903-1967)
|volume=28
|issue=9
|periodical=J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab.
|pages=1245–8
|doi = 10.1210/jcem-28-9-1245
}}
*{{Citation
|pmid = 4882331
|last=Bates
|first=R W
|year=1968
|title=Gregory Goodwin Pincus. 1903-1967
|volume=24
|periodical=Recent Prog. Horm. Res.
|pages=v–vi
|doi=10.1016/b978-1-4831-9827-9.50004-6
|isbn=9781483198279
|doi-access=
}}
*[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1y_30HHlitenXG4rNMEtViLW1YbOOXy6a_OND_nD_5z-0tAjAjB-EyGT9PS-m/edit?usp=sharing Weintraub, B. Pincus, Djerassi and Oral Contraceptives. Chemistry in Israel, Bulletin of the Israel Chemical Society. August 2005.]

==External links==
* {{Biographical Memoirs|pincus-gregory}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pincus, Gregory G.}}
[[Category:1903 births]]
[[Category:1967 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Woodbine, New Jersey]]
[[Category:American people of Latvian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Jewish American scientists]]
[[Category:20th-century American biochemists]]
[[Category:Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences alumni]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:Harvard University faculty]]
[[Category:Clark University faculty]]
[[Category:People from Northborough, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:20th-century American Jews]]