| Luis E. Miramontes |
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Luis Ernesto Miramontes Cárdenas ( March 16 1925 , in Tepic , Nayarit – September 13 2004 , in Mexico City ) , was a Mexican chemist known as the co-inventor of the first Oral Contraceptive . He obtained his first Degree in chemical engineering in the Universidad Nacional Autónoma De México (UNAM). He was founder researcher of the Institute of Chemistry of the same University, making research in the area of Organic Chemistry mainly. He was a professor of the Faculty of Chemistry of the UNAM, Director and professor of the School of Chemistry at the Universidad Iberoamericana, and deputy Director of the Mexican Institute of Petroleum (IMP). Miramontes was member of diverse scientific societies, such as the American Chemical Society (Emeritus), the Mexican Institute of Chemical Engineers, the National Institute of Chemical and Chemical Engineers, the Chemical Society of Mexico, the American Institute Of Chemical Engineers and the New York Academy Of Sciences . Invention of the first oral contraceptive The scientific contribution of Luis Miramontes is very extensive, includes numerous publications and nearly 40 national and international patents in different areas such as Organic Chemistry , Pharmaceutical Chemistry , Petrochemistry and Atmospheric Chemistry and Polluting Agents . Among his multiple contributions to world science, it is the synthesis on October 15 , 1951 , when Miramontes was only 26 years old, of Norethindrone , that was to become the active compound base of the first synthetic Oral Contraceptive , better known as the Contraceptive Pill . By this reason it is considered its inventor. Luis E. Miramontes received the patent of the compound next to Carl Djerassi and George Rosenkranz , of the Mexican chemical company Syntex . It is common that the invention of the pill is attributed exclusively to Djerassi or to Rosenkranz. The historians, nevertheless, agree that the invention, or the first synthesis, must go to Miramontes. For example, the Nobel laurated Max Perutz states that "On October 15th, 1951, the chemistry student Luis Miramontes, working under the direction of Djerassi and the director of the laboratory Jorge Rosenkranz synthesized the compound". Djerassi itself affirms that it was, in fact, Miramontes who synthesized the compound for the first time [2 . The scientific article reporting the synthesis has Miramontes as the first author. Finally, the synthesis method was registered, on October 15th, 1951, in page 114 of the Miramontes's personal laboratory notebook (signed). Outstanding life and recognition
, ca. 1995]]
Luis E. Miramontes, Andres Manuel Del Rio (discoverer of Vanadium ) and Mario Molina , Chemistry Nobel Prize in 1995 , are the three most important Mexican chemists of all times. Selected publications related to his invention
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