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Robert Edwards Pioneer of in Vitro Fertilisation OBITUARIES Robert Edwards Pioneer of in vitro fertilisation Robert Geoffrey Edwards PhD (Edin.) DSc (Wales) With characteristic FRS, physiologist, born 27 September 1925; energy Edwards died 10 April 2013. CBE 1988, knighted 2011. proceeded to Lasker Prize for Clinical Medical Research 2001, talk publicly Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2010. about his work and to encourage Bob Edwards was an extraordinarily gifted sci- entist. Few biologists have had such a positive debate—for which and practical impact on the future of mankind he was also roundly through their basic research. For it was Bob, his criticised clinical colleague Patrick Steptoe, and laboratory by his colleagues 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. Robert Edwards with one of the babies born Rather than a backroom boffin, Bob was as a result of his immersed completely in the development of clini- pioneering technique cal progress through his deep understanding of NADEN/PA REBECCA reproductive biology and genetics, his prodigious of egg meiotic maturation, for which together It is difficult for clinicians and scientists now knowledge of mammalian biology and animal they developed hormonal ovarian stimulation to appreciate the antipathy and repugnance husbandry,2 and his empathy for the plight of regimens, which formed the basis for those used to Bob’s work between the 1960s and 1980s; the “undeserving infertile.” in IVF today.4 it was viewed as unnatural and ungodly, and The possibility that fertilisation could be He moved to the department of physiology in the slippery slope to Aldous Huxley’s Brave manipulated or assisted in the laboratory Cambridge in 1963 after periods overseas and at New World. There were calls from the BMA for a had been mooted by the early experiments of the National Institute for Medical Research at Mill halt to all embryo research, and, even after the Gregory Pincus, inventor of the oral contraceptive Hill. He became increasingly interested in study- birth of Louise Brown, the first child to be born pill, and referred to in a prophetic 1937 editorial ing egg maturation events in the human, initially after IVF, calls from a US Senate committee for entitled “Conception in a watch glass.”3 Bob was as a route to understanding the origins and early a moratorium. passionate about the possibility that infertile cou- diagnosis of genetic disorders such as Down’s Bob did not brush aside these criticisms but ples could be helped by new techniques being syndrome. These experiments required human took them seriously, as he did most things. He developed in the laboratory, and exemplified the eggs, but at that time the only way to obtain them spent time in the early 1970s contemplating principle of translational science: of bringing was through their incidental retrieval at laparot- the ethical issues raised and published widely ideas from bench to bedside. omy for other gynaecological procedures.5 This on bioethics from 1971.9 With characteristic Robert Geoffrey Edwards was one of three is where his chance meeting with Patrick Steptoe energy he proceeded to talk publicly about the brothers from humble beginnings in Yorkshire. was to prove crucial. Steptoe was a pioneer of the work and to encourage debate—for which he His Mancunian mother worked as a mill machin- newly developing art of laparoscopy that allowed was also roundly criticised by his colleagues. ist, and his father as a railway worker. He was him access to women’s ovaries though “keyhole” His visionary ideas were way ahead of his time: schooled at Manchester Central High School surgery. whether scientifically, ethically, or in educating for Boys, and his further education was unim- Steptoe was regarded as a bit of a maverick. the public about science. His 1965 paper in the pressive. Conscripted into the army in 1943, he Not wholly accepted by the gynaecological Lancet on human egg maturation charted with later read agricultural sciences at the University establishment, he worked in a cottage hospital remarkable and characteristic foresight a pro- College of North Wales but, disillusioned by the in Oldham in Lancashire. This necessitated many gramme for assisted reproductive technology non-scientific content, transferred to zoology. To a trip for Bob or Jean Purdy bringing eggs from for the next 20 years.10 He set the foundations his dismay he managed only a pass, not honours. Oldham to Cambridge for the early experiments for preimplantation genetic diagnosis11 and In debt and disconsolate, he was amazed and to develop the basic techniques needed.6 Their understood the importance of embryonic stem delighted to be accepted on to a diploma course landmark papers demonstrating the feasibility of cells for regenerative medicine. in animal genetics in Edinburgh, followed by a human fertilisation7 and early development8 in He leaves his wife, Ruth, five daughters, and PhD. There he undertook experiments in mice the laboratory were pivotal in underpinning the 12 grandchildren. towards the understanding of the role of chromo- later clinical techniques. These were to bring him Peter Braude, emeritus professor of obstetrics and somes and chromosome number in the genera- into conflict with religious groups, especially the gynaecology, King’s College London tion of developmental anomaly—novel research Catholic church, which opposed all work involv- [email protected] in those early days of developmental genetics. It ing artificial conception, as it does to this day. Martin Johnson, professor of reproductive sciences, was here that he met his wife and lifelong collabo- Indeed, the day after Bob was awarded the 2010 University of Cambridge rator, Ruth Fowler. The experiments that Bob and Nobel prize for medicine, a critical Vatican state- References are in the version on bmj.com. Ruth undertook involved study of the dynamics ment was issued decrying the award. Cite this as: BMJ 2013;346:f2600 BMJ | 18 MAY 2013 | VOLUME 346 29.
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