Robert Edwards (physiologist)
Robert Edwards | |
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| Born | Robert Geoffrey Edwards 27 September 1925 Batley, England |
| Died | 10 April 2013 (aged 87) near Cambridge, England |
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| Known for | Pioneering in-vitro fertilisation |
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| Scientific career | |
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| Thesis | The experimental induction of heteroploidy in the mouse (1955) |
| Doctoral advisor | R. A. Beatty C. H. Waddington |
| Doctoral students | Richard Gardner (embryologist) Martin Hume Johnson Roger Gosden Azim Surani |
| Website | nobelprize |
Sir Robert Geoffrey Edwards (27 September 1925 – 10 April 2013) was a British physiologist and pioneer in reproductive medicine, and in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) in particular. Along with obstetrician and gynaecologist Patrick Steptoe and nurse and embryologist Jean Purdy, Edwards successfully pioneered conception through IVF, which led to the birth of Louise Brown on 25 July 1978. They founded the first IVF programme for infertile patients and trained other scientists in their techniques. Edwards was the founding editor-in-chief of Human Reproduction in 1986. In 2010, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for the development of in vitro fertilization".