Robert Geoffrey Edwards was born in Batley, Yorkshire, on 27 September 1925. He became a physiologist whose research helped develop in vitro fertilisation, or IVF.

After studying biology at Bangor and completing his doctorate at the University of Edinburgh, Edwards worked at several research institutions before moving to the University of Cambridge in 1963. His research increasingly focused on human reproduction and the possibility of fertilising an egg outside the body.

Edwards worked with gynaecologist Patrick Steptoe, whose expertise in laparoscopy allowed eggs to be retrieved from the ovaries. Their research faced scientific challenges and opposition to fertilising human eggs in a laboratory.

Their work eventually led to the birth of Louise Brown in Oldham in July 1978. She was the first person born following conception through IVF.

Edwards and Steptoe later established Bourn Hall Clinic in Cambridgeshire, which became an important centre for fertility treatment.

In 2010, Edwards received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for developing IVF. Steptoe had died in 1988 and could not share the award because Nobel Prizes are not awarded posthumously.