Nobel Prize for Medicine awarded to developer of in vitro fertilization

Infertility is a devastating medical condition, affecting more than 10 percent of couples worldwide. However, thanks to the work of Robert Edwards, a professor emeritus at the University of Cambridge – and this year’s Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine – for these individuals, the possibility to conceive a child is now a reality.

While still a Ph.D. student at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Edwards got the idea for in vitro fertilization, which he later developed through a research partnership with gynecologist Patrick Steptoe. In July 1978, Edwards and his research team delivered the first baby born through in vitro treatments.
However, the procedure was not developed without controversy. His efforts have been opposed by ethicists, certain religious groups and parts of the medical world. In fact, at one point in his career, Edwards had to issue eight libel actions in the High Court of London, all in a single day.

The contribution Edwards has made to those considered infertile, though, is immeasurable. Approximately four million babies will be born using the procedure in this year alone.

Other scientists in the running included chemist Carl Djerassi, who was one of the inventors of the female contraceptive pill, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary; James Till and Ernest McCulloch, who helped prove the existence of stem cells; and Gary Ruvkun and Victor Ambros for their work on microRNAs, which are key to research on inherited diseases.