San Francisco: Carl Djerassi, who was widely considered as the father of the birth control pills by the chemists, has passed away at the age of 91.

An Austrian-born US chemist, he died of complications of liver and bone cancer on Friday in his San Francisco home, Stanford University spokesman Dan Stober said.

As a professor of chemistry at Stanford, Djerassi was the most famous for leading a research team in Mexico City. In 1951 that team developed norethindrone, a synthetic molecule which became a key component of the first birth control pill.

“The pill” as it came to be known radically transformed sexual practices and women’s lives.

Later in his career, Djerassi wrote poems, short stories and plays with an emphasis on mixing science and literature.

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