In 1914, social reformer and sex educator Margaret Sanger introduced the term "birth control" into the American lexicon.

But the "father of the pill" is actually Carl Djerassi, an Austrian-born chemist who immigrated to the US to escape the Nazis. An expert on steroid synthesis, Djerassi joined a Mexico City-based company called Syntex, where he helped pioneer the first oral contraceptive in 1951.

While he didn't have the green light to test, produce, or distribute the pill, his research paved the way for the team that did — endocrinologist Gregory Pincus and gynecologist John Rock. Nine years after Djerassi's discovery, following clinical trials in Massachusetts and Puerto Rico, the pill was approved by the FDA.