Cold Open

It’s the early hours of December 6th, 1953, at Edinburgh University, Scotland.

28-year-old graduate student Robert Edwards opens the door of his laboratory and politely gestures for his companion to enter.

After spending the evening in a bar with Robert, fellow student Ruth Fowler is eager to see the research project he's spent the last few hours talking about.

The two students tiptoe inside the dark room, both a little tipsy.

Ruth stumbles into a table while Robert feels along the wall for the light switch.

Robert finds the switch, and when the lights come on, Ruth sees row upon row of cages lining the countertops, and inside are hundreds of mice. This is what Robert jovially refers to as the Mouse House.

Robert is a scientist studying the reproduction of mice. He has to inspect these rodents when they’re most likely to breed—and that’s when the sun is down. But even though Ruth is a student at the same university, bringing an outsider into the lab is forbidden. If they’re caught, Robert could get in trouble.

So, they try to keep quiet… but Robert also wants to impress Ruth. He unlatches one of the cage doors and fumbles to extract a mouse for Ruth to hold.

The creature wriggles out of Robert’s grip, though, and lands at their feet before shooting across the floor. Soon, the two students are scrambling all over the lab on their hands and knees, chasing after the mouse and falling into fits of laughter. Soon enough, Robert and Ruth knock into each other, then catch each other’s eyes. Their hearts are pumping with excitement and, with the mouse forgotten, they share their first kiss.

Robert Edwards’s clandestine visit to the Mouse House is a life-changing moment. He will begin dating Ruth Fowler, and three years later, the two will marry. But Robert’s time in the laboratory will also have an impact on the lives of millions of others—because his research on mice will eventually lead him to a medical breakthrough that enables the first human baby to be born through In Vitro Fertilization on July 25th, 1978.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is July 25th, 1978: The First IVF Baby.

Act One: Research and Setbacks

It’s April 1960 in London, England, seven years after Robert Edwards’ first date with his future wife.

The now 34-year-old Robert opens the front door to his modest home and welcomes in another set of smiling neighbors. Robert hangs up their coats in the hallway and points them toward the living room while he heads into the kitchen to boil some water. He’ll have to wash up more cups though if his new guests are to have tea - Robert’s house has been busy today. A constant stream of friends and family have come to visit Robert and Ruth’s newborn daughter, who’s just home from the hospital.

Robert returns to the living room with a tray of refreshments. Most of the neighbors are busy admiring Robert’s daughter, who’s sleeping in a bassinet. But one couple has retreated to a corner of the room—and the woman is fighting back tears. Robert’s heart sinks. He knows this must be difficult for them - they’ve been trying to get pregnant for years without success. And as they quietly comfort each other, Robert’s thoughts turn to his laboratory—and he wonders whether there’s anything he can do to help.

Five years ago, Robert obtained his doctorate from Edinburgh University. He then worked in several labs before securing a job at the National Institute for Medical Research in London. There, Robert continued studying pregnancy in mice. One of the goals of his research was to develop a vaccine that would prevent a woman from becoming pregnant. But over the past few years, Robert’s felt a pressing desire to focus on the opposite outcome. He wants to find a way to help people like his friends have babies.

So, when he returns to his laboratory, Robert starts planning a new project. He knows that many women struggle to conceive because their fallopian tubes are blocked, preventing eggs from implanting in the uterus. As part of his previous research, Robert implanted the embryos of mice directly into the uterus—a technique that bypassed the tubes. And now, Robert aims to replicate this procedure in humans. But first, Robert needs to prove that he can develop a viable embryo in the lab.

Robert begins by placing unfertilized mice eggs onto sterile petri dishes. Next, he adds the spermatozoa and hormones which encourage fertilization. The results are incredible. After only a few hours, Robert checks the petri dish under a microscope and discovers that he can see the eggs have been successfully fertilized.

Robert is thrilled by this discovery. But after further research, he finds out that his stunning medical breakthrough is nothing of the sort. Another scientist got there first—25 years earlier.

Initially, Robert is dejected. But after some thought, he has a realization. Although the idea of creating life in a petri dish is not new, no one has thought to take the next step. And as far as Robert can tell, the possibility of implanting a lab-fertilized human egg back into a human body has never been considered.

Robert outlines a plan for his fellow scientists at the National Institute for Medical Research. He proposes injecting an infertile woman with hormones that aid conception before collecting her eggs via surgery. Then, he’ll fertilize the eggs in a petri dish and allow them to develop before implanting the embryos back in the woman’s uterus. Since conception will take place in the lab, Robert calls his new technique in vitro fertilization, or IVF, since “in vitro” is Latin for “in glass.”

But Robert does not get the enthusiastic response he hoped for. Instead, many of his colleagues just shake their heads considering his research to be unethical. In their view, life should not be created in a lab.

It’s an opinion shared by the director of the National Institute for Medical Research. Robert is summoned to a meeting and told in no uncertain terms that there will be no lab-based human fertilization at the institute while the director is in charge. Robert’s research project seems to be over before it starts.

But Robert won’t accept that. Instead, he’ll decide to leave the National Institute for Medical Research—and the next step of his journey will take him to a doctor who’ll join Robert’s quest to help infertile couples finally have children.

Act Two: The Doctor and The Scientist

It’s February 1968 at the Royal Society of Medicine in London, five years after Robert Edwards’s work on human in vitro fertilization was shut down.

39-year-old Robert sits in a lecture hall taking notes as Dr. Patrick Steptoe explains his latest research. Patrick is a gynecologist at Oldham General Hospital, and a pioneer of laparoscopy—a surgical technique that uses small incisions and a tiny camera to see inside the abdomens of his patients. Robert’s identified this, as the perfect technique to harvest eggs and implant embryos in patients, and he’s come to hear Patrick’s lecture to learn more.

After leaving the National Institute for Medical Research, Robert secured a position at Cambridge University where he continued his work on IVF. He experimented with different conditions and slowly improved the success rate of his petri dish fertilizations. But Robert realized that creating viable human eggs was only one part of the solution. The other was implanting them in a woman’s uterus. Laparoscopy seems to be the answer—but just like IVF, laparoscopy hasn’t been welcomed by everyone in the medical community.

At the lecture, Robert bristles as another doctor stands up to criticize Dr. Steptoe’s findings. He claims that the statistics are flawed and that this new technique is not as safe as traditional surgery. As the other doctor gets more heated, Robert feels compelled to have his own say and gets to his feet to interrupt. Robert explains that he has also used a laparoscope many times, and his experiences back up Dr. Steptoe’s findings. Robert’s interjection helps calm the situation, and after a small nod of thanks, Dr. Steptoe continues.

After the lecture is over, Robert rushes to the stage and introduces himself. He hurriedly describes his plans to help infertile women conceive and asks if Dr. Steptoe would be interested in joining his research program. Dr. Steptoe is intrigued by the idea and quickly agrees to help.

But before either man can begin working with human patients, they must prove that their work is safe. With the help of research assistant Jean Purdy, over the next twelve months, they test and retest their hypothesis by experimenting on mice. Only once they are confident the procedure can be replicated on humans do they publish their findings and declare their intention to begin clinical trials.

Robert and Dr. Steptoe’s paper makes headlines around the world. Many reporters compare the medical breakthrough to a story from science fiction. But not all the reactions are complimentary. Just as Robert faced opposition from his colleagues at the National Institute for Medical Research, some people are angered by the ethical implications of IVF.

Many members of the public are suspicious of claims that life can be conceived in an artificial environment. Church leaders preach against the experiments because IVF will lead to the destruction of fertilized embryos as part of the scientific process. And newspaper editorials argue that IVF may one day lead to selective breeding, even state-sponsored eugenics.

But throughout the uproar, Robert, Dr. Steptoe, and Jean Purdy keep their eyes on the goal: helping otherwise healthy women have children. Despite all the noisy opposition, they are finally given the green light to begin testing their new procedure on human patients. But their funding is limited. Robert and Dr. Steptoe will have to keep their full-time jobs as an academic and doctor as well and only work on the project in their spare time.

Still, it’s better than nothing. So, after selecting a cohort of test subjects, Robert and Dr. Steptoe begin collecting eggs and trying to fertilize them in the laboratory managed by Jean Purdy.

But their progress is slow. It takes five years for the first patient to become pregnant via IVF. And the Jubilation of the news quickly turns to despair, when it’s discovered that the pregnancy is ectopic. The fetus won’t survive - it's growing in the fallopian tubes rather than the uterus. It’s a potentially life-threatening emergency and requires immediate surgery. But the scientists continue, and over the next few years, several more women become pregnant—but none of the pregnancies come full term.

Robert, Dr. Steptoe, and Jean do not lose heart, though, and in 1976, Dr. Steptoe meets another new patient who’s been referred to him. 29-year-old Lesley Brown travels to Dr. Steptoe’s clinic in a last attempt to have children after nine years of trying. Dr. Steptoe examines Lesley and discovers, like many of his other patients, she has blocked fallopian tubes. That makes Lesley a candidate for the IVF program.

After talking through her options, Lesley will agree to take part in the clinical trial. Her eggs will be successfully collected, fertilized in the lab, and implanted into her uterus. This time, though, the pregnancy will run to term. And her baby won’t just seem like a miracle to Lesley. It will mark the culmination of 18 years of research and give hope to millions of people all around the world.

Act Three: Joy

It’s 11:45 AM, on July 25th, 1978, at Oldham General Hospital in north-west England, two years after Dr. Patrick Steptoe first met his patient Lesley Brown.

Dressed in a hospital gown and mask, Dr. Steptoe stands over an operating table with a scalpel in hand. Lesley lies in front of him, sedated and heavily pregnant.

A few months ago, the news leaked about Lesley's successful IVF pregnancy. And as reporters tried to track her down, Dr. Steptoe worried that the stress would affect her health and that of her baby. So, he hid Lesley in his car and drove her to his own mother’s house on the other side of the country, so Lesley could spend the last weeks of her pregnancy in peace. Now, though, the wait is finally over. Today is the day Lesley’s dreams of becoming a mother finally come true.

Holding the scalpel firmly, Dr. Steptoe makes a large incision in Lesley’s abdomen. He reaches inside and feels for the baby’s neck, checking that the umbilical cord isn’t wrapped around it. When he’s sure the cord is clear, Dr. Steptoe’s assistants hold back the muscles of Lesley’s abdomen, and Dr. Steptoe lifts out the baby.

Louise Joy Brown, the first person conceived and borne via IVF, has just entered the world.

Out in the hallway, Dr. Steptoe delivers the news that Lesley’s husband is finally a father, and he breaks down in tears. Parents and child leave the hospital the next day with reporters clamoring for the story behind what they call the “test-tube baby”.

But despite incredible offers for an inside scoop, Dr. Steptoe, Robert Edwards, and Jean Purdy all resist selling their story to the press. Instead, they go back to work, helping several more women in the clinical trial realize their dreams of motherhood. Then, when the trial ends, Robert, Dr. Steptoe, and Jean set up the Bourn Hall Clinic outside Cambridge to provide IVF treatment to more patients. And from there, the practice spreads across Britain and around the globe.

Today, more than 10 million babies have been brought into the world thanks to Robert Edwards, Dr. Patrick Steptoe, and Jean Purdy’s pioneering work—and the very first was a little girl named Louise Joy Brown, born on July 25th, 1978.

Outro

Next on History Daily. July 26th, 1755. Notorious Italian playboy Giacomo Casanova is arrested and incarcerated in a supposedly inescapable jail.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Gabriel Gould.

Music by Thrumm.

This episode is written and researched by Owen Paul Nicholls.

Edited by Scott Reeves.

Managing producer Emily Burke.

Executive Producers are William Simpson for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.