Ludwig Haberlandt

Ludwig Haberlandt
Born	1 February 1885 Graz
Died	22 July 1932 (1932-07-23) (aged 47)
Cause of death	Suicide
Nationality	Austria
Known for	Hormonal contraception

Ludwig Haberlandt (1 February 1885 – 22 July 1932) is known as a father of hormonal contraception. In 1921 he carried out experiments on rabbits and he demonstrated a temporary hormonal contraception in a female by transplanting ovaries from a second, pregnant, animal.

His father was the eminent botanist, Gottlieb Haberlandt, plant tissue culture theorist and visionary; his grandfather was the European 'soybean' pioneer and trailblazer Friedrich J. Haberlandt.

In 1930 he began clinical trials after successful production of a hormonal preparation, Infecundin®, by the G. Richter Company in Budapest, Hungary. He ended his 1931 book, Die hormonale Sterilisierung des weiblichen Organismus, with a visionary claim: 'Unquestionably, practical application of the temporary hormonal sterilization in women would markedly contribute to the ideal in human society already enunciated a generation earlier by Sigmund Freud (1898). Theoretically, one of the greatest triumphs of mankind would be the elevation of procreation into a voluntary and deliberate act.' He was hounded for his views on reproductive biology up to his death from either suicide, or heart attack.

References

• Haberlandt, Edda (2009). "Ludwig Haberlandt--A pioneer in hormonal contraception". Wien. Klin. Wochenschr. 121 (23–24). Austria: 746–9. doi:10.1007/s00508-009-1280-x. PMID 20047112.
• Djerassi, Carl (2009). "Ludwig Haberlandt--"Grandfather of the Pill"". Wien. Klin. Wochenschr. 121 (23–24). Austria: 727–8. doi:10.1007/s00508-009-1271-y. PMID 20047108.
• Müller-Jahncke, W D (Aug 1988). "Ludwig Haberlandt (1885–1932) and the development of hormonal contraception". Z Gesamte Inn Med (in German). 43 (15). GERMANY, EAST: 420–2. ISSN 0044-2542. PMID 3051743.