In July of 1978, a small cottage hospital in Oldham, near Manchester became the focus of international media attention as headlines all over the world proclaimed “Britain awaits test-tube birth” – followed by “Test tube baby born” “Baby of the century” “Brave New World”…
The background to this historic event spanned more than a decade of research by Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe, pioneers who challenged social attitudes, values and priorities of the times. The remarkable story of their struggle to obtain state funding and support has been recently reported:
http://www.bionews.org.uk/page_67380.asp?dinfo=XPlzTGjyztpMElmMHCxx4ZFH
Why the Medical Research Council refused Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe support for research on human conception in 1971
Human reproduction | 24 July 2010
Permission to use this copy written video was provided by Bourn Hall Clinic, Cambridge, UK<www.bourn-hall-clinic.com>. The original video was digitized by Dr. Kay Elder.
© Do not reproduce without written permission from Bourn Hall Clinic.
About Bourn Hall Clinic, Cambridgeshire, UK
Two years after achieving the first birth through IVF in 1978, with the longed for arrival of Louise Brown, Mr Patrick Steptoe and Professor Robert Edwards achieved another first – a new clinic that made IVF treatment available to couples with difficulties conceiving. The result has been many children who otherwise would never have been born - and the birth of a whole new area of medicine undertaken here at Bourn Hall Clinic over the last three decades.
What drove Steptoe and Edwards was life - both the lives of the patients themselves, and the possibility of making their dream of a family a reality. Bourn Hall was conceived as a calm, supportive environment where patients receive the best possible treatment and care.
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