Luis Ernesto Miramontes Cárdenas
(March 16, 1925 – September 13,
Chemist, Chemical Engeneering
Co-invented the contraceptive pill.
In 1951, Luis Miramontes, then a college student, was under the direction of Syntex Corp Ceo George Rosenkranz and researcher Carl Djerassi. Miramontes wrote a new procedure for the synthesis of the progestin norethindrone, the active ingredient for what would become the oral birth control pill. Carl Djerassi,George Rosenkranz and Luis Miramontes were granted US patent 2,744,122 for “oral contraceptives” on May 1, 1956. The first oral contraceptives trade named Norinyl was manufactured by Syntex.
he scientific contributions of Luis Miramontes are extensive, including numerous publications and nearly 40 national and international patents in different areas such as organic chemistry, pharmaceutical chemistry, petrochemistry, atmospheric chemistry, and polluting agents. Among his multiple contributions to world science is the synthesis on October 15, 1951, when Miramontes was only 26 years old, of norethisterone (norethindrone), that was to become the progestin used in one of the first three oral contraceptives (combined oral contraceptive pills). For this reason, Luis Miramontes is considered by Lilia Miramontes to be its inventor. Carl Djerassi, Luis Miramontes, and George Rosenkranz of the Mexican chemical company Syntex are listed on the patent for norethisterone as its co-inventors. Djerassi “is now known sometimes as the ‘Father of the Pill'”. The historians, nevertheless, agree that the invention, or the first synthesis, is the work of Miramontes.
Honors
n 1964, the contraceptive pill was chosen by the US Department of Patents as one of the 40 registered more important inventions between 1794 and 1964. The name of Luis Miramontes appeared next to Pasteur, Edison, Bell, the Wright brothers, and others of equal stature. It was included in the “USA Inventors Hall of Fame”.
In 1985 he received the “Estado de Mexico” Medal, in the area of sciences and arts; as well as public recognition from the government of the state of Nayarit, and academic recognition from the Technological Institute of Tepic.
He received the Mexican National Prize on Chemistry “Andrés Manuel del Rio” in 1986.
In 1989 he became a “pugwashite”, that is, a member of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, an organization promoting peace and world development, after attending the 39th Pugwash Conference: Building Global Security through Cooperation held at Cambridge, USA. The Pugwash Conferences were awarded the Peace Nobel Prize in 1995.
In 1992 the General Hospital of Zone No. 1, of the Mexican Institute of Social Security, in Tepic, Nayarit, was named “Luis Ernesto Miramontes Cardenas Hospital”.
In 1994 the Mexican Ministry of Health recognized his scientific contributions when installing the National Program on Family Planning in Mexico.
He received in 1998, on behalf of the government of the state of Nayarit, the “Amado Nervo” Medal.
- In 2000, the contraceptive pill was denominated three times as one of the most important inventions of the last 2000 years, by a group of outstanding persons, that included several Nobel laurates.
- In 2001, at the 50th Anniversary of the synthesis of norethisterone, the UNAM and the Mexican Ministry of Health, organized individual tributes to Miramontes and Rosencraz.
- In 2003, norethisterone was considered one of the most important 17 molecules that have influenced the history of humankind.
- In 2004, the invention of Luis E. Miramontes was chosen as the twentieth most important one of all the times. The election was organized by SCENTA, an initiative of The Engineering and Technology Board of the United Kingdom.
- In 2005, the Mexican Academy of Sciences, named the invention of Miramontes as the Mexican most important contribution to world science ever.
- In 2009, the BBC of London nominated him as one of the five most important Latin American researchers of all the times[
- In 2009, The School of Chemistry of UNAM recognized him as one of the most successful and important scientists to have received a degree from it
- In 2009, The School of Chemistry of UNAM honored him by naming the 2009 year prize QUIMIUNAM after him.
- In 2010, TCE Today, published by the IChemE regarded him “one of the chemical engineers who changed the world”
- In 2010, The Innovators of America initiative nominated him a top Icon & Legend of America
- In 2011 was named one of the world’s most influential chemical engineers of all time by the IChemE (Institution of Chemical Engineers).
- In 2011, The Mexican Institute of Chemical Engineers IMIQ named after him the Prize “Ing. Luis Ernesto Miramontes Cárdenas” aimed to recognize outstanding Mexicans in Chemical Engineering R&D .[
Luis E. Miramontes, Andrés Manuel del Río (discoverer of vanadium) and Mario Molina, Chemistry Nobel Prize in 1995, are the three most important Mexican chemists of all time.