Presenting the First Test-Tube Baby: The Edwards and Steptoe Lecture of 1979

by Fiona Kisby Littleton, Susan Bewley, James Owen Drife

Overview

In January 1979, Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe delivered a lecture detailing the ten-year clinical and scientific research programme that led to the birth of Louise Brown, the first baby born utilising IVF. This thoroughly-researched book provides both a full annotated transcript of the lecture as well as recorded reminiscences from those who attended, detailing the contemporary understandings of the event. An essay on the lecture's historical context adds fresh insight into the biographies of Edwards and Steptoe and highlights sources from print and broadcast media that have received scant attention in earlier publications. Current and future implications of the advances in IVF since the first procedure are also explored, examining future medical and scientific possibilities as well as ethical issues that may arise. A foreword by Louise Brown herself places this remarkable leap of science in a personal context, one that so many families have since experienced themselves.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781009211000
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/16/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	31 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Fiona Kisby Littleton has Masters' degrees and a Ph.D. in Education, History and Musicology from King's College, University College London Institute of Education and Royal Holloway College in the University of London. She was a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Royal Holloway College and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Initially producing publications on Tudor England, her research interests and publication activity have widened considerably over the years and have most recently focused on the history and contents of curricula and textbooks in British schools, fertility education and the history of IVF.
Susan Bewley is Emeritus Professor (honorary) of Obstetrics and Women's Health at King's College London. She was the first woman subspecialist in Maternal-Fetal Medicine in the UK. Her particular research interests are severe maternal morbidity and violence against women. She chaired the Ethics Committee of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and ran Expert Working Groups on Ethics in O&G and Reproductive Ageing.
James Owen Drife is Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Leeds and was the Medical Director of the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths. He has been vice-president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and was a columnist for the BMJ.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: presenting the first test-tube baby Fiona Kisby Littleton, Susan Bewley and James Owen Drife; 2. From Oldham and Cambridge to the rest of the world: the contexts and contents of the lecture, 1978–80 Fiona Kisby Littleton; 3. The lecture, 1979: pregnancies following implantation of human embryos grown in culture Fiona Kisby Littleton and Susan Bewley; 4. The professional reminiscence, 2019: retired fellows look back Fiona Kisby Littleton, Susan Bewley and James Owen Drife; 5. The local reminiscence: an Oldham journalist remembers Janice Barker; 6. The legacy: 2019 and beyond Peter Braude and Martin Johnson.

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Alain Touwaide, PhD (Ronin Institute)
Description: In 1978, the very first baby was born from in vitro fertilization (IVF), named Louise Brown. The following year, the two doctors who made this possible gave the first formal public presentation of the research that led to this birth. This book covers their research and its impact worldwide.
Purpose: The book's purpose is to highlight the exact recording of the 1979 lecture in which the doctors responsible for Louise Brown's birth presented their research. It also aims to provide a history of the preparatory work that led to this epoch-making event, echoing the impact of the lecture through the transcription of previously unpublished interviews and other original documents, while providing material to reflect on ethical issues raised by IVF.
Audience: The book will apply to a diverse audience, including historians of medicine for whom it is a bounty of previously unknown or unexploited material, as well as students, researchers, and scientists in medicine and life sciences conducting pioneering research with all its implications. More globally, the book is about medical literacy, which any reader interested in medicine should read.
Features: The book is organized into four sections: the context of the 1979 lecture, from Louise Brown's birth to one year after the lecture; the lecture itself, including the first full reproduction of its text and its slides; "The Professional Reminiscence" in 2019, with comments and memories of witnesses; and the projection toward the future of what Louise Brown's birth announced and raised in terms of ethical issues. The book relies on a unique body of documentation, much of which has remained unused if not unknown for years, with transcripts of interviews and journal clippings. The book makes for a compelling case about infertility treatment and ways to solve it.
Assessment: This book reads almost like a novel. It is extremely well organized, solidly documented, and enthralling, capturing aspects of a debate that may have gone unnoticed or eschewed, while altering the perception of the exact nature of the major achievement of Louise Brown's birth.

Doody's Review Service

‘As the mother of one of the world’s first IVF babies, the depth of information in this brilliant, engaging book is thrilling to me. Edwards and Steptoe resiliently persevered, using their intellects and scientific experimentation, to create and hone the pioneering process that resulted in the creation of families world-wide. I live in eternal gratitude to these two men and revere the authors who today bring this 1979 lecture to light.’ Ellen Weir Casey, Author of Unstoppable: Forging The Path To Motherhood In The Early Days of IVF, River Grove Press, 2022; Mother of 'Colorado’s First Test Tube Baby' in 1983

‘What an incredible read! A page-turner full of fascination if not suspense, providing a wonderful and comprehensive account of the genesis of IVF which has transformed the lives of many millions in ways that cannot be over-exaggerated, and is succinctly summed up in Louise Brown’s introduction: ‘This publication provides an important record for the future, capturing aspects of the early days of IVF that might otherwise be lost forever as time moves on.’ This is a truly wonderful record and one that should be read by everyone in the field of reproductive medicine.’ Adam Balen, MBBS, M.D., DSc, FRCOG; Professor of Reproductive Medicine and Surgery, Leeds Teaching Hospitals; Former Chair of the British Fertility Society and Council member of the RCOG

From the Publisher