Luis Ernesto Miramontes and the Pill That Changed the World

When Luis Ernesto Miramontes Cárdenas was still a teenager, a book fell into his hands that would be a call to his vocation: Microbe Hunters, by Paul de Kruif, a text whose pages tell the story of those scientists who, by creating the first vaccines, not only saved millions of lives, but also transformed the world.

“What was narrated in that text motivated my father to move from his native Tepic, Nayarit, to Mexico City. He wanted to study something that combined biology and pharmaceuticals and that, in addition, was beneficial for people. With that objective, he enrolled in the Chemical Engineering program at the National University,” shared his son Octavio Miramontes Vidal, who today is a researcher at the UNAM Physics Institute.

Those who knew Luis Ernesto Miramontes describe him as a person committed to scientific issues or activities with a positive impact on the community, as someone always willing to make sacrifices if this meant progress for humanity and as a man whose conduct and temperance bordered on the stoic.

These characteristics led him to achieve, at just 26 years of age, one of the most important discoveries in modern medicine: the synthesis of the base compound of the first synthetic female oral contraceptive, a contribution that would bring about a revolution that goes beyond the social.

Revolutionary contribution

Luis Miramontes was born in Nayarit in 1925, a few years after the end of the Revolution. He grew up in a low-income family, at a time when there were few opportunities to study. It was thanks to his aunt, who was a rural teacher, that he had his first contact with mathematics, reading, and knowledge that made him dream that there was a world out there to discover.

Motivated by everything he was learning and by what he read in Microbe Hunters, young Luis Ernesto packed his bags and left the family home with a clear plan: to move to Mexico City to finish high school and then a degree. “He sought to pursue a university career at the best place in Mexico, UNAM.”

In the 1940s, he began taking classes at the National Preparatory School – when it was still located in the Old College of San Ildefonso – and, upon graduating, he enrolled in Chemical Engineering, without imagining that soon after (even before obtaining his degree) his work would impose new paradigms.

“At that time, the Syntex company, created by foreigners, had partnered with the UNAM Chemistry Institute so that some of its most talented students could go to its laboratories and support or do research. My father joined as an assistant in the steroid synthesis project, particularly for products related to sexual activity hormones,” Miramontes Vidal explained.

The company was interested in barbasco, a tuber endemic to Veracruz and Oaxaca, which is a natural source of hormones. Miramontes's mission –whom his teachers described as “a good experimenter who could complete complex syntheses in record time”– was to obtain molecules from this plant in order to reinforce the embryo in the womb and prevent spontaneous abortions, but in 1951 he would end up synthesizing a steroid substance called norethisterone, which was found to have contraceptive properties.

This would surprise everyone, including the then 26-year-old, who in an interview for the book "Laboratorios en la selva" would confess: “I knew it would have oral activity, but I didn't imagine that everything related to the pill would happen because of these experiments.”

Miramontes Cárdenas' work made it possible for the first synthetic contraceptive pill to begin to be sold in the United States in October 1961. “The social impact of this had global reach. Women now had greater control over their sexuality and could plan how many children they wanted,” commented Octavio Miramontes.

For Marta Lamas, from the UNAM Center for Gender Research and Studies, this is a highly significant scientific advance. “The first contraceptive pill was a marvel. It gave us the possibility of exercising sexuality without the risk of becoming pregnant, it gave us the possibility of deciding, and it allowed us to separate sex from procreation.”

And not only that, added the researcher, because the work of this UNAM student - who was leaving the laboratory to write his thesis - influenced the sexual revolution of the 1960s, birth control, and reinforced the fight of women for their reproductive rights. “This fit like a glove. Young people at the time had many questions about their sexuality, and suddenly a pill appeared that allowed them to live a liberation movement.”

Six decades later, the relevance of this achievement does not fade. In fact, it is estimated that currently around 150 million women use the contraceptive pill as a family planning method (according to the United Nations World Family Planning 2022), while for the Mexican Academy of Sciences, it is the most important Mexican contribution of the 20th century to science.

Working for society

Luis Miramontes, father of ten children, is remembered for being someone who was always dedicated to his family and work. “He was a very serious person in his activities and committed to all the institutions in which he worked. He had a huge affection for UNAM,” recalled Miramontes Vidal.
< r> He was also a prolific inventor: he obtained 64 patents, which could be more, since from 1950 to 1970 Mexican patent records were not easily accessible. In addition, he left his mark on pharmaceutical, agricultural, and atmospheric chemistry.

He also advised the National Council of Science and Technology in its early years, collaborated on commissions to analyze problems such as water scarcity, and was involved with state companies that produced fertilizers and salt. His concern for environmental pollution led him to work on catalytic converters for automobiles, and as deputy director of the Mexican Petroleum Institute, he conducted petrochemical research.

His life was marked by pride and love for the National University, where he was one of the first full-time researchers hired at the newly inaugurated Ciudad Universitaria. He also taught classes at the Faculty of Chemistry for decades.

“At UNAM, top-level activities are carried out that translate into charitable actions for the country. An example of this is the legacy of Luis Miramontes, the synthesis of the first oral contraceptive, which brought about a revolution in social structures,” Octavio Miramontes stressed.

And it all began with a book. In the mid-twentieth century, the U.S. Patent Office selected the oral contraceptive as one of its 40 most important patents, and on its list placed the surname Miramontes Cárdenas next to that of the most famous of the “microbe hunters”: Pasteur. If young Luis Ernesto ever longed to appear alongside those scientists he so admired and whom he learned about through Paul de Kruif’s text, today we can say that there is no doubt: the dream came true.