To Bob’s work between the 1960s and 1980s

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BMJ

 | 18 MAY 2013 | VOLUME 346 

29

OBITUARIES

Robert Edwards

Pioneer of in vitro fertilisation

It is difficult for clinicians and scientists now 

to appreciate the antipathy and repugnance 

to Bob’s work between the 1960s and 1980s; 

it was viewed as unnatural and ungodly, and 

the slippery slope to Aldous Huxley’s Brave 

New World. There were calls from the BMA for a 

halt to all embryo research, and, even after the 

birth of Louise Brown, the first child to be born 

after IVF, calls from a US Senate committee for 

a moratorium. 

Bob did not brush aside these criticisms but 

took them seriously, as he did most things. He 

spent time in the early 1970s contemplating 

the ethical issues raised and published widely 

on bioethics from 1971.

9

 With characteristic 

energy he proceeded to talk publicly about the 

work and to encourage debate—for which he 

was also roundly criticised by his colleagues. 

His visionary ideas were way ahead of his time: 

whether scientifically, ethically, or in educating 

the public about science. His 1965 paper in the 

Lancet on human egg maturation charted with 

remarkable and characteristic foresight a pro-

gramme for assisted reproductive technology 

for the next 20 years.

10

 He set the foundations 

for preimplantation genetic diagnosis

11

 and 

understood the importance of embryonic stem 

cells for regenerative medicine.

He leaves his wife, Ruth, five daughters, and 

12 grandchildren.

Peter Braude, emeritus professor of obstetrics and 

gynaecology, King’s College London  

[e-mail] 

Martin Johnson, professor of reproductive sciences, 

University of Cambridge

References are in the version on bmj.com.

Cite this as: BMJ 2013;346:f2600

Bob Edwards was an extraordinarily gifted sci-

entist. Few biologists have had such a positive 

and practical impact on the future of mankind 

through their basic research. For it was Bob, his 

clinical colleague Patrick Steptoe, and laboratory 

assistant Jean Purdy who in 1978 were to achieve 

the first birth after in vitro fertilisation (IVF),

1

 a 

technique that has brought joy to millions of pre-

viously infertile couples.

Rather than a backroom boffin, Bob was 

immersed completely in the development of clini-

cal progress through his deep understanding of 

reproductive biology and genetics, his prodigious 

knowledge of mammalian biology and animal 

husbandry,

2

 and his empathy for the plight of 

the “undeserving infertile.” 

The possibility that fertilisation could be 

manipulated or assisted in the laboratory 

had been mooted by the early experiments of  

Gregory Pincus, inventor of the oral contraceptive 

pill, and referred to in a prophetic 1937 editorial 

entitled “Conception in a watch glass.”

3

 Bob was 

passionate about the possibility that infertile cou-

ples could be helped by new techniques being 

developed in the laboratory, and exemplified the 

principle of translational science: of bringing 

ideas from bench to bedside.

Robert Geoffrey Edwards was one of three 

brothers from humble beginnings in Yorkshire. 

His Mancunian mother worked as a mill machin-

ist, and his father as a railway worker. He was 

schooled at Manchester Central High School 

for Boys, and his further education was unim-

pressive. Conscripted into the army in 1943, he 

later read agricultural sciences at the University 

College of North Wales but, disillusioned by the 

non-scientific content, transferred to zoology. To 

his dismay he managed only a pass, not honours. 

In debt and disconsolate, he was amazed and 

delighted to be accepted on to a diploma course 

in animal genetics in Edinburgh, followed by a 

PhD. There he undertook experiments in mice 

towards the understanding of the role of chromo-

somes and chromosome number in the genera-

tion of developmental anomaly—novel research 

in those early days of developmental genetics. It 

was here that he met his wife and lifelong collabo-

rator, Ruth Fowler. The experiments that Bob and 

Ruth undertook involved study of the dynamics 

of egg meiotic maturation, for which together 

they developed hormonal ovarian stimulation 

regimens, which formed the basis for those used 

in IVF today.

4

He moved to the department of physiology in 

Cambridge in 1963 after periods overseas and at 

the National Institute for Medical Research at Mill 

Hill. He became increasingly interested in study-

ing egg maturation events in the human, initially 

as a route to understanding the origins and early 

diagnosis of genetic disorders such as Down’s 

syndrome. These experiments required human 

eggs, but at that time the only way to obtain them 

was through their incidental retrieval at laparot-

omy for other gynaecological procedures.

5

 This 

is where his chance meeting with Patrick Steptoe 

was to prove crucial. Steptoe was a pioneer of the 

newly developing art of laparoscopy that allowed 

him access to women’s ovaries though “keyhole” 

surgery. 

Steptoe was regarded as a bit of a maverick. 

Not wholly accepted by the gynaecological 

establishment, he worked in a cottage hospital 

in Oldham in Lancashire. This necessitated many 

a trip for Bob or Jean Purdy bringing eggs from 

Oldham to Cambridge for the early experiments 

to develop the basic techniques needed.

6

 Their 

landmark papers demonstrating the feasibility of 

human fertilisation

7

 and early development

8

 in 

the laboratory were pivotal in underpinning the 

later clinical techniques. These were to bring him 

into conflict with religious groups, especially the 

Catholic church, which opposed all work involv-

ing artificial conception, as it does to this day. 

Indeed, the day after Bob was awarded the 2010 

Nobel prize for medicine, a critical Vatican state-

ment was issued decrying the award.

With characteristic 

energy Edwards 

proceeded to 

talk publicly 

about his work 

and to encourage 

debate—for which 

he was also roundly 

criticised  

by his colleagues

Robert Geoffrey Edwards PhD (Edin.) DSc (Wales) 

FRS, physiologist, born 27 September 1925; 

died 10 April 2013. CBE 1988, knighted 2011. 

Lasker Prize for Clinical Medical Research 2001, 

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2010. 

Robert Edwards with  

one of the babies born 

 as a result of his 

pioneering technique

REBE

CCA

 NADEN

/P

A