Photos: Test-tube baby pioneer Sir Robert Edwards has died at 87
April 10, 2013
Prof. Robert Edwards, test tube baby pioneer, holds Robert Patrick Peter Laird, May 23, 1990 in London, England, the 2,500th test tube baby born to the Bourn Hallam team 12 years after the world's first test tube baby Louis Brown. The clinic pioneered the fertilization technique in 1978, resulting in the first baby concieved outside the mother's womb. (AP Photo/Dave Gaywod) ( PROF.R.EDWARDS,TEST TUBE BABY (05/90) )
FILE- Louise Brown, the world's first test tube baby in this photo dated July 25, 1978, soon after her birth at Oldham General Hospital in Manchester, England, following pioneered work by the hospital's gynecologist, Patrick Steptoe and Cambridge physiologist Robert Edwards. Test-tube baby pioneer Robert Edwards of Britain has won the 2010 Nobel Prize in medicine it is announced Monday Oct. 4, 2010. (AP Photo/file) ( APTOPIX Britain Nobel Edwards )
World's first test tube baby, Louise Joy Brown, pictured shortly after she was born at Oldham General Hospital, England, on July 25, 1978. The baby was the first to be conceived by the technique of fertilization outside the mother's body, pioneered by the hospital's gynecologist, Patrick Steptoe and Cambridge physiologist Robert Edwards. (AP Photo/pool) ( FIRST TEST TUBE BABY )
From left, British Professor Robert Edwards, whose pioneering work led to the birth of the world's first 'test tube baby', Dr James Watson of the U.S., who was involved in the discovery of the structure of DNA, and Russian Dr Yury Verlinsky, who was the first person to create a 'designer baby' to save the life of a sick sibling, discuss the latest advances in human genetics and the hope they offer, during a news conference at the sixth International Symposium on Preimplantation Genetics in London, England, Thursday, May. 19, 2005. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) ( BRITAIN )
British Professor Robert Edwards, in this file photo dated Thursday, May 19, 2005, whose pioneering work led to the birth of the world's first 'test tube baby', seen in London, England. Test-tube baby pioneer Robert Edwards of Britain is named as winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize in medicine it is announced Monday Oct. 4, 2010. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, file) ( Britain Nobel Edwards )
Dr. Robert Edwards, left, is all smiles as he sits with gynecologist, Patrick Steptoe, his partner in research for 12 years in "test tube" childbirth, July 26, 1978 in Manchester, England. They announced details of the birth to Bristol housewife, Mrs. Lesley Brown, of a baby girl born in an Oldham Hospital. (AP Photo/Bob Dear) ( Test Tube Baby Doctor )
Dr. Patrick Steptoe, left, from Oldham General Hospital, and Dr. Robert G. Edwards of the Physiological Laboratories at Cambridge University, are shown during a news conference on BBC television in London, Feb. 14, 1969. They have taken the first steps toward creating human life in a test tube by fertilizing human eggs in the laboratory. (AP Photo) ( Test Tube Baby 1969 )
In this 2008 photo made available by the Bourn Hall Clinic, British physiologist Robert Edwards attends the 30th birthday party of the world's first "test tube" fertilization baby Louise Joy Brown, at the Bourn Hall, in Bourn, England. A British scientist who developed test tube fertilization and gave thousands of infertile couples the chance to have children, has received the 2010 Nobel Prize in medicine, it was announced on Monday, Oct. 4, 2010. Starting in the 1950's, Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe developed the so-called IVF technology where egg cells are fertilized by sperm outside the body. Steptoe died in 1988. (AP Photo/Bourn Hall Clinic) ( Sweden Nobel Medicine )
Dr. Robert G. Edwards of England's Cambridge University, speaks in Detroit, Mich., saying he plans to plant an embryo into the womb of an infertile woman in the hopes it will become a normal baby, Oct. 30, 1970. He spoke at a symposium on the Biology of Fertilization and Implantation. Also with him is Dr. Pierre Soupart of Vanderbilt University, left. Others are unidentifed. (AP Photo) ( Test Tube Baby 1970 )
FILE- The British pioneer of IVF treatment, Professor Robert Edwards sits with two of his 'test-tube-babies', Sophie and Jack Emery who celebrate their second birthday in London in this file photo dated Monday July 20, 1998. The Nobel prize winner for medicine, Edwards who was a pioneer of in-vitro fertilization, which became known as test tube babies, has died aged 87, it is announced Wednesday April 10, 2013. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File) ( Britain Obit Robert Edwards )
STEPTOE-EDWARDS (1978 TEST-TUBE BIRTH) - Dr. Robert Edwards (left) and gynaecologist Patrick Steptoe, partners in research for 12 years in "Test-Tube" childbirth, speak at a news conference in Manchaster, Britain, after announcing details of the successful birth of a baby girl to 31-year old Bristol housewife Mrs. Lesley Brown. (AP-Photo/Bob Dear) ( PC TEST-TUBE BIRTH )
TEST-TUBE BABY PIONEERS (1979) - British gynaecologist Mr. Patrick Steptoe (left) and British physiologist Dr. Robert Edwards (right) the test-tube baby pioneers pictured explaining their technique to an audience of dotcors at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in London. (AP-Photo/John R. Glanvill) ( TEST-TUBE PIONEERS )
The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute announces on October 4, 2010 in Stockholm that Robert Edwards of Britain won the Nobel Medicine Prize for the development of in-vitro fertilization (IVF). Edwards, 85, began working on developing the process in the 1950s, and "his efforts were finally crowned by success on July 25, 1978, when the world's first 'test tube baby' was born," the prize jury said. (JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty Images) ( Par3505854 )
A picture of a television screen at the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm announces that Britain's Robert G. Edwards had won the Nobel Medicine Prize on October 4, 2010 for the development of in vitro fertilisation. (JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty Images) ( Par3505824 )
Dr Ruth Edwards (2ndR), wife and colleague of the 2010 Nobel Medicine laureate Roberg G. Edwards, representes her husband with their daughters Jenny Joy (L), Caroline Roberts (2ndL) and Sarah Oughton (R) at a reception in honour of the laureate at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm on December 7, 2010. British doctor Robert Edwards, who won this year's medicine prize for his pioneering of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), did not travel to Stockholm because of health reasons, Nobel Foundation executive director Michael Sohlman said. The 85-year-old, whose work led to the birth of the first test-tube baby in 1978, was also too weak to give interviews when it was announced in October that he had won the prize. (BERTIL ERICSON/AFP/Getty Images) ( Par3647184 )
Dr. Ruth Edwards, wife and colleague of the 2010 Nobel Medicine laureate Professor Robert G. Edwards of Britain, receives the Nobel Prize in Medicine from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden (R) during the Nobel prize award ceremony at the Stockholm Concert Hall in Stockholm on December 10, 2010. (Claudio Bresciani/AFP/Getty Images) ( Par3653952 )
Dr. Ruth Edwards, wife and colleague of the 2010 Nobel Medicine laureate Professor Robert G. Edwards of Britain receives the Nobel Prize in Medicine from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden (R) during the Nobel prize award ceremony at the Stockholm Concert Hall in Stockholm on December 10, 2010. JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty Images) ( Par3653927 )
Gynecologist Patrick Steptoe throws his head back in laughter as he faces a press conference with his colleague, Dr. Robert Edwards, in Manchester, England, who after 12 years' research, have successfully made the first "test tube" baby, born to 31-year-old Lesley Brown, July 26, 1978. (AP Photo/Bob Dear) ( Britain Test Tube Baby 1978 )
Dr. Robert Edwards, left, is all smiles as he sits with gynecologist, Patrick Steptoe, his partner in research for 12 years in "test tube"childbirth, July 26, 1978 in Manchester, England. They announced details of the birth to Bristol housewife, Mrs. Lesley Brown, of a baby girl born in an Oldham Hospital. (AP Photo/Bob Dear) ( Test Tube Baby Doctors )