Test Tube Baby Pioneer Robert wins Nobel Prize

British physiologist Robert Edwards, whose work on invitro fertilisation ( IVF) led to the birth of the world’s first test tube baby in 1978, was announced winner of this year’s Nobel prize in medicine on Monday.

“Edwards battled societal and establishment resistance to his development of the IVF procedure, which has so far led to the birth of around four million people,” the Swedish academy said while announcing the prize.

Beginning fundamental research in biology of fertilisation in the 1950s, Edwards realised that fertilisation outside the human body could be a possible treatment of infertility.

Edwards made some fundamental contributions in the field: how human eggs mature, how different hormones regulate their maturation, and at which time point the eggs are susceptible to the fertilising sperm.

He also determined the conditions under which sperm is activated and has the capacity to fertilise the egg.

In 1969, for the first time, he showed that a human egg can be fertilised in a test tube. He collaborated with gynaecologist Patrick Steptoe, and was successful in the birth of the world’s first test tube baby, Louise Brown, on July 25, 1978.

The Nobel prize to Edwards has left bitter aftertaste in India. This is because the world’s second IVF baby was born just 67 days later on October 3, 1978 in Kolkata. This means that the Indian doctor, Subhas Mukherjee, had fertilised the embryo around the same time as Edwards.

“We used a different technique than Edwards. Our technique involving multiple ovulation has greater success rate and is widely used by gynaecologists all over the world,” said Dr Sunit Mukherjee, who was member of the Kolkata team.

“IVF in animals had been known for decades then (in 1960s). The innovation was in developing a new technique for humans which could reduce chances of failures, which is what Dr Subhas Mukherjee did. The Nobel committee should have recognised this,” Mukherjee said.

Dr Subhas Mukherjee’s achievement was not recognised and he was victimised by gynecologists as well as the West Bengal government. He committed suicide in1981.