STEPTOE, PATRICK (CHRISTOPHER); AND EDWARDS, ROBERT ...

born June 9, 1913, Witney, Oxfordshire, Eng. died March 21, 1988, Canterbury, Kent born Sept. 27, 1925 British medical researchers who perfected in vitro fertilization of the human egg. Their technique made possible in the birth of Louise Brown, the world's first test-tube baby, on July 25, 1978. In 1939 Steptoe graduated from the University of London's St. George Hospital Medical School and joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve, serving as a surgeon until his ship was sunk and he was taken prisoner by the Italians (194143). After his release he continued his medical training in London, Dublin, and Manchester before becoming senior obstetrician and gynecologist at Oldham Hospitals in Oldham (195178). In Oldham he conducted research on sterilization and infertility and published Laparoscopy in Gynaecology (1967), concerning the use of the laparoscope, a narrow tube with a built-in fibre light. Edwards attended the Universities of Wales and Edinburgh, served in the British Army (194448), and worked as a physiologist and a medical researcher with various universities in Britain and the United States. In 1968 Edwards succeeded in fertilizing the human ova outside of the womb. The partnership began in 1968, and their work at the Centre for Human Reproduction in Oldham resulted in the birth of more than 1,000 babies, including Louise Brown's younger sister. Steptoe died the day before he was to be made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.