Father of IVF Robert G Edwards wins 2010 Nobel for medicine
04 Oct 2010
Robert G. Edwards of the United Kingdom has won the 2010 Nobel Prize for Medicine for the development of the in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) technique that has helped millions of couple across the world to have a child.
Edwards, 85, won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his contributions, which "represent a milestone in the development of modern medicine," the Nobel Assembly at the Swedish Karolinska Institute said while announcing the award.
Born in 1925, in Manchester, United Kingdom, Edwards has been with the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Edwards perfected the IVF technique at the Bourn Hall Clinic in Cambridge, which he set up along with British gynecologist Patrick Steptoe, who died in 1988.
"His achievements have made it possible to treat infertility, a medical condition afflicting a large proportion of humanity including more than 10 per cent of all couples worldwide," the Nobel citation said.
Under the IVF procedure, an egg from a woman is fertilised with a donated sperm from a man inside the lab. The egg is then allowed to develop into an early-stage embryo and is then inserted in the woman's uterus to grow it into a baby.
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