Nobel Prize Awarded to IVF Pioneer

October 4, 2010
The 2010 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to British scientist Robert G. Edwards, for the development of in vitro fertilization (IVF).

In 1978, his vision of fertilizing human eggs in a lab was realized when the world's first "test tube baby", Louise Brown, was born in England. Since then, approximately 4 million babies have been born with IVF.

In the United States alone, 54,656 babies were born via assisted reproductive technology in 2007, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And today, there are more than 430 fertility clinics in the U.S. offering ART, which accounts for more than 1 percent of births in this country.