A news By yahoofreeshop:The “father of the test tube baby,” Robert G. Edwards, won the Nobel Prize for medicine on Monday, the awards committee announced.
His contributions to developing in vitro fertilization (IVF) “represent a milestone in the development of modern medicine,” the committee said.
“As early as the 1950s, Edwards had the vision that IVF could be useful as a treatment for infertility,” which affects about 10 percent of all couples worldwide, the commitee said.
“He worked systematically to realize his goal, discovered important principles for human fertilization, and succeeded in accomplishing fertilization of human egg cells in test tubes (or more precisely, cell culture dishes). His efforts were finally crowned by success on 25 July, 1978, when the world’s first ‘test tube baby’ was born,” the committee said.
His work has led to the birth of about four million babies, the committee said in praising his work.
The prize is worth 10 million Swedish kronor (about $1.5 million).
Born in Manchester, England, in 1925, Edwards is based at Cambridge University in England.
The announcement marks the beginning of a week of prizes, with physics, chemistry, literature and peace coming in the next four days. The prize in economics will be announced next Monday.
