Sir Robert Edwards, the British professor who has been called "the father of IVF," died yesterday at age 87. Edwards developed in vitro fertilization with another doctor Patrick Steptoe, and in 1978, the first "test tube baby" was born. When they first developed IVF, Edwards and his partner, the late Dr. Patrick Steptoe, were accused of playing God and this brought them into direct conflict with the catholic church and even own colleagues!the church even went to the extent of saying that the children born through ivf would be born without a soul,essentially meaning that they would be an incarnation of the devil itself!

try saying that to the Millions of children and their parents who had no hope until Edwards came up with "IVF"!

Edwards always said he was motivated by his belief that the most important thing in life is having a baby,nothing is more special than a child!! i entirely agree!!in a way all of us fertility specialists are carrying forward the legacy of Robert Edwards!!

the INDIAN connection to IVF

Dr. Subhas Mukherjee  was a physician from Kolkata, India, who created the world's second and India's first child using in-vitro fertilisation, Durga who was born 67 days after the first IVF baby in United Kingdom. Unfortunately, he was harassed by the communist West Bengal government, and not allowed to share his achievements with the international scientific community.

he Faced social ostracization, bureaucratic negligence, reprimand and insult instead of recognition from the West Bengal government, and refusal of the Government of India to allow him to attend international conferences,^[he committed suicide in his Calcutta residence on 19 June 1981.
His feat has been given belated recognition as the Indian physician who in 1986 was officially regarded as being the first doctor to perform in-vitro fertilization in India
A film Ek Doctor Ki Maut directed by Tapan Sinha was made on his life.