It was with sadness that the fertility world learned yesterday of the death of Professor Sir Robert Edwards, the pioneer of IVF.

Sir Robert’s work, together with his colleague Patrick Steptoe, has helped transform the lives of millions of couples – providing hope of a much wanted child where previously there had been none.

Born in 1925, in the Yorkshire mill-town of Batley, Sir Robert was one of three boys. He joined the army in 1943 upon leaving school, serving mostly in Palestine. Upon demobilisation, in 1948, Sir Robert returned to his studies, at the University of North Wales, where he read zoology. In 1955, Sir Robert completed his Ph.D at the Universty of Edinburgh’s Institute of Animal Genetics, before accepting a position as a biochemist at Glasgow University.

In 1968, Sir Robert, then a researcher at Cambridge University, was introduced to Patrick Steptoe, a Manchester-based gynaecological surgeon. Sir Robert’s early research was in the egg maturation and fertilisation processes of animals, to show that eggs could be matured according to a predetermined schedule as the result of hormone treatment, and since the 1950s, he had long believed that the processes he was developing could be similarly used to help humans. With Patrick’s help, Sir Robert was determined to further his research in this area.

Early efforts to fertilise human eggs proved unsuccessful, whilst their research was further hampered by the unsupportive approach of colleagues in the medical community. Nevertheless, undeterred, in 1969 the two men succeeded in creating the first fertilised human embryo. With the financial help of a private donor from the US (the Medical Research Council refused to fund the studies) they were able to proceed with their research at a cottage hospital in Oldham, where they attempted the world’s first human embryo transfers.

There followed five long  years of failure until, in November 1977, they succeeded in implanting a fertilised embryo in the womb of Lesley Brown, who, together with her husband John, had endured more than a decade of infertility. The following July, Louise Joy Brown, the world’s first ‘test tube baby’, was born. The news was monumental. Not everyone approved, however. At the time, the Vatican said that Louise’s birth would have “grave consequences for humanity.”

Further IVF-conceived children followed and, in 1980, Sir Robert and Patrick established Bourn Hall, Cambridge, the world’s first dedicated IVF clinic. Throughout the 1980s there was a slow but steady acceptance of the practice, which mirrored the gradual rehabilitation of Sir Robert and Patrick, who had been all but ostrasized by the medical fraternity during the early years of their research. By the time of Patrick Steptoe’s death, in 1988, more than 1,000 children had been born through IVF.

Today, that figure is well into the millions. In 2010, when Sir Robert Edwards was finally awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology for ‘the development of in vitro fertilisation,’ more than 4.5 million children born worldwide were conceived using IVF. Sir Robert always held a special fondness for Louise Brown, his first successful embryo transfer, even attending her wedding in 2005. Louise, who now has two children of her own, remarked that she was saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert: ‘I’ve always regarded Robert Edwards as like a grandfather to me. His work, along with Patrick Steptoe, has brought happiness and joy to millions all over the world by enabling them to have children.’

Sir Robert is survived by his wife, Ruth, their five children, and their 12 grandchildren.

If you would like more information about the laws associated with IVF and fertility treatment please email louisa.ghevaert@porterdodson.co.uk or call +44 (0)207 222 1244.