From the dawn of organic geochemistry (1933, 1938): Estrogenic substances in bituminous deposits and in the Dead Sea

We describe several pioneering organic geochemical studies from the 1930s on estrogenic substances isolated from various fossil fuels and bituminous materials and from water and sediments of the Dead Sea. The techniques employed were bioanalytical and not chemical. One of the studies, although not done on the same molecular level as his, precedes the work of Alfred Treibs, who is considered the father of organic geochemistry. By shedding light on a relatively unknown chapter of organic geochemistry, the roots of this discipline are shown to extend wider than usually recognized.