An outstanding scientist and Nobel Prize winner, the IVF technology founder Robert Edwards has died yesterday in the UK at the age of 87.
"With great sadness the family of the scientists reported that Nobel Laureate Sir Robert, a great scientist and a pioneer of artificial insemination techniques, has quietly passed away in his sleep," - said the representative of Cambridge University.
In 1977, Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe have jointly developed a method thanks to which millions of infertile couples around the world finally got a chance to become happy parents. In 1978 in the Oldham Hospital the first "test-tube" child Louise Brown was born.
In 2007, the scientist became the 26th in the list of 100 greatest living geniuses according to a newspaper Daily Telegraph. In 2010, Robert Edwards won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for the development of the method of in vitro fertilization of human eggs, medical advance, which represents a paradigm shift in the treatment of many types of infertility." In 2011 he was knighted "for his service to the reproductive biology."
Perhaps the world is not fully aware of the role of Robert Edwards’ invention in modern science yet, but it’s absolutely clear that he has made a breakthrough, the importance of which for the whole humanity is difficult to overestimate. For a variety of reasons, from bad environment to the desire to postpone the continuation of the family "for the future", the number of families who can’t conceive naturally, is rapidly growing. For many couples IVF is the only way to create a complete family. It is possible that one day in vitro fertilization may become the only chance for the mankind survival. Not everyone is destined to leave a mark on this earth, as it was possible for Robert Edwards. Thanks to his work more than 5 million children have been born over the last 35 years.
Interesting, but despite his numerous awards, Sir Edwards has been always saying that the main success in his life was "the ability to make people happy" and not the Nobel Prize.
Fond memory to an outstanding man and a great scientist.
