Steptoe, Patrick ; and Edwards, Robert

Steptoe, Patrick (Christopher); and Edwards, Robert (Geoffrey)

(born June 9, 1913, Witney, Oxfordshire, Eng.—died March 21, 1988, Canterbury, Kent) (born Sept. 27, 1925, Yorkshire) British medical researchers. They perfected human in vitro fertilization, leading to the birth of the first “test-tube baby” in 1978. Steptoe had conducted research on sterilization and infertility and published Laparoscopy in Gynaecology (1967). Edwards succeeded in 1968 in fertilizing human ova outside the uterus. Their partnership, begun in 1968, resulted in the birth of more than 1,000 babies.