Presenting the First Test-Tube Baby: The Edwards and Steptoe Lecture of 1979

Description

In January 1979, Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe delivered a lecture detailing the ten-year clinical and scientific research programme that led to the birth of Louise Brown, the first baby born utilising IVF. This thoroughly-researched book provides both a full annotated transcript of the lecture as well as recorded reminiscences from those who attended, detailing the contemporary understandings of the event. An essay on the lecture's historical context adds fresh insight into the biographies of Edwards and Steptoe and highlights sources from print and broadcast media that have received scant attention in earlier publications. Current and future implications of the advances in IVF since the first procedure are also explored, examining future medical and scientific possibilities as well as ethical issues that may arise. A foreword by Louise Brown herself places this remarkable leap of science in a personal context, one that so many families have since experienced themselves.

Fiona Kisby Littleton has Masters' degrees and a Ph.D. in Education, History and Musicology from King's College, University College London Institute of Education and Royal Holloway College in the University of London. She was a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Royal Holloway College and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Initially producing publications on Tudor England, her research interests and publication activity have widened considerably over the years and have most recently focused on the history and contents of curricula and textbooks in British schools, fertility education and the history of IVF. Susan Bewley is Emeritus Professor (honorary) of Obstetrics and Women's Health at King's College London. She was the first woman subspecialist in Maternal-Fetal Medicine in the UK. Her particular research interests are severe maternal morbidity and violence against women. She chaired the Ethics Committee of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and ran Expert Working Groups on Ethics in O&G and Reproductive Ageing. James Owen Drife is Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Leeds and was the Medical Director of the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths. He has been vice-president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and was a columnist for the BMJ.

'As the mother of one of the world's first IVF babies, the depth of information in this brilliant, engaging book is thrilling to me. Edwards and Steptoe resiliently persevered, using their intellects and scientific experimentation, to create and hone the pioneering process that resulted in the creation of families world-wide. I live in eternal gratitude to these two men and revere the authors who today bring this 1979 lecture to light.' Ellen Weir Casey, Author of Unstoppable: Forging The Path To Motherhood In The Early Days of IVF, River Grove Press, 2022; Mother of 'Colorado's First Test Tube Baby' in 1983 'What an incredible read! A page-turner full of fascination if not suspense, providing a wonderful and comprehensive account of the genesis of IVF which has transformed the lives of many millions in ways that cannot be over-exaggerated, and is succinctly summed up in Louise Brown's introduction: 'This publication provides an important record for the future, capturing aspects of the early days of IVF that might otherwise be lost forever as time moves on.' This is a truly wonderful record and one that should be read by everyone in the field of reproductive medicine.' Adam Balen, MBBS, M.D., DSc, FRCOG; Professor of Reproductive Medicine and Surgery, Leeds Teaching Hospitals; Former Chair of the British Fertility Society and Council member of the RCOG