Mrs Ruth Edwards receiving Robert G. Edwards' Nobel Prize from His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden at the Stockholm Concert Hall, 10 December 2010. Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 2010
Photo: Frida Westholm

Mrs Ruth Edwards receiving Robert G. Edwards' Nobel Prize at the Stockholm Concert Hall, 10 December 2010. Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 2010
Photo: AnnaLisa B. Andersson

Mrs Ruth Edwards and Professor Martin Hume Johnson showing the Nobel Medal and Diploma of Robert G. Edwards at the Stockholm Concert Hall, 10 December 2010. Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 2010
Photo: AnnaLisa B. Andersson

Ruth Edwards (Robert G. Edward's wife) speaking at the Nobel Prize Symposium in Honour of Robert G. Edwards, 7 December 2010. Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 2010
Photo: Orasisfoto

Robert G. Edward's wife, Ruth Edwards, and his daughters, at the Nobel Prize Symposium in Honour of Robert G. Edwards, 7 December 2010. Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 2010
Photo: Orasisfoto

Professor Robert Edwards at the Bourn Hall 30th birthday celebrations for first "test tube baby" Louise Brown. Photo taken 12 July 2008.

Photo: Kindly provided by Bourn Hall Clinic.

Professor Robert Edwards, Lesley Brown, Louise Brown, the world's first "test tube baby" with her son Cameron. Photo taken 12 July 2008.

Photo: Kindly provided by Bourn Hall Clinic.

Louise Brown, the world's first "test tube baby" with her mother Lesley. Photo taken 9 October, 1978.

Photo: Brian Bould / Daily Mail / Rex Features /IBL Bildbyrå

Professor Robert Edwards at his desk at Bourn Hall Clinic, England. Photo taken in 1989.

Photo: CORBIN O'GRADY STUDIO/ Science Photo Library / IBL Bildbyrå

Human embryos developing in vitro. The photos show a fertilized egg, 8-cell stage, cell adhesion, a compacted morula, a blastocyst and zona hatching.

Photo: Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Early_human_embryos.png)

A light micrograph image showing the encounter between sperm and ovum during in vivo fertilization. A single sperm is seen in centre of the image approaching the circular oocyte. Other competing sperm and cells encompass the corona radiata, which forms a protective halo around the central oocyte, are visible at bottom.

Photo: EDELMANN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / IBL Bildbyrå