IVF Pioneer Sir Robert Edwards Dies

IVF pioneer Sir Robert Edwards has died at the age of 87, Cambridge University has announced.

Together with Dr Patrick Steptoe, Sir Robert developed the process that led to the birth of the first test tube baby Louise Brown in 1978.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for his work in 2010.

Announcing his death, a spokesman for Cambridge University said on behalf of Sir Robert's family: "It is with deep sadness that the family announces that Professor Sir Robert Edwards, Nobel prizewinner, scientist and co-pioneer of IVF, passed away peacefully in his sleep on 10th April 2013 after a long illness.

"He will be greatly missed by family, friends and colleagues. Please respect the family's privacy at this sad time."

Since Louise Brown was born at 11.47pm on July 25, 1978, the technique pioneered by Sir Robert and Dr Steptoe has brought the joy of parenthood to more than 4.3 million couples who thought they would never be able to have children.

Louise Brown with IVF twins celebrating her 25th birthday in 2003

It is some achievement for a man who was never medically trained and for someone who fought fierce opposition to achieve his dream of helping childless couples.

Sir Robert first successfully fertilised eggs in the laboratory in 1968 after this he teamed up with Dr Steptoe, who had been working on collecting eggs from ovaries.

Together they faced fierce opposition to their pioneering work. Among the objections was that it was wrong to treat infertility when the world was over-populated.

The British government refused to fund their work and they were forced to raise the money privately.

But Sir Robert, who had five children with his wife Ruth, was always driven by his belief that people had a right to have help to conceive children.

Louise Brown: born 11.47pm, July 25, 1978

He once said: "I have seen how infertility is a cause of great and lasting human sadness. It demands treatment. People have a right, I believe, to benefit from research whenever possible. The most important thing in life is having a child."

A mature student, he studied zoology and agriculture at Bangor University after leaving the army. He went on to study genetics at Edinburgh before taking up a senior post in the physiology department at Cambridge University in 1963.

It was here that he embarked upon his work fertilising egg cells outside the body and implanting them into the womb.

After the birth of Miss Brown, now 34 with a son of her own, he founded the world's first IVF clinic at Bourn Hall, Cambridge.

By the time he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2010, when he had already become ill, there were criticisms that Britain had done little to recognise his overwhelming achievements.

Dr Steptoe died in 1988.

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