News Update: In Vitro Fertilization Developer Wins Nobel Prize

The Nobel Foundation has announced the first in 6 awards that recognize outstanding cultural and scientific advances. Monday's prize announcement was for Physiology or Medicine. SOT: ""...the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2010 to Robert Edwards for the development of in vitro fertilization.""

The English biologist, along with his partner Patrick Steptoe who would have shared the prize if he were still alive, spent more than 20 years working to get eggs and sperm to mature and unite outside the body. They made the discovery 30 years ago. Today, 1-2% of all births in the U.S. are a result of the revolutionary IVF method.

The treatment has seen the conception of around 4 million babies since the first test tube baby, Louise Brown, in 1978. The procedure, which was originally met with much controversy because of the moral implications of intervening in the creation of a human being, is now more widely accepted and has helped hopeful parents overcome infertility. The Nobel Foundation will award prizes everyday this week, with the final announcement next Monday. The organization will recognize outstanding individuals in physics, chemistry, literature, the economic sciences and peace.

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