Gregory Goodwin Pincus
| Gregory Goodwin Pincus | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
April 9, 1903 Woodbine, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | August 22, 1967 (aged 64) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Residence | Northborough, Massachusetts |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Fields | Biology |
| Institutions |
Harvard University Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology |
| Alma mater |
Cornell University Harvard University |
| Known for | Combined oral contraceptive pill |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Notkin (died in 1988) |
Dr. Gregory Goodwin Pincus (April 9, 1903 – August 22, 1967) was an American biologist and researcher who co-invented the combined oral contraceptive pill.
Gregory Goodwin Pincus was born in Woodbine, New Jersey, into a Jewish family, the son of Polish-born immigrants Elizabeth (née Lipman) and Joseph Pincus, an agriculture teacher. He credited two uncles, both agricultural scientists, for his interest in research. He went to Cornell University and received a bachelor's degree in agriculture in 1924. He attended Harvard University where he was an instructor in zoology while also working toward his master's and doctorate degrees. From 1927 to 1930 he moved from Harvard to Cambridge University in England to the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biology with Richard Goldschmidt in Berlin where he performed research. He became an instructor in general physiology at Harvard University in 1930 and was promoted in 1931 to an assistant professor.
Dr. Pincus began studying hormonal biology and steroidal hormones early in his career. He was interested in the way that hormones affected mammals' reproductive systems. His first breakthrough came early, when he was able to produce in vitro fertilization in rabbits in 1934. In 1936, he published his discoveries after his experiments. His experiments involving parthenogenesis produced a rabbit that appeared on the cover of Look magazine in 1937. To create the in vitro rabbit baby, Pincus removed the 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' experiment became known as "Pincogenesis" because other scientists were unable to attain the same results when conducting the experiment. After he was misquoted in an interview, it was believed that his experiment was the beginning of the use of in vitro for humans.
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