Editorial

Professor Robert Edwards of Britain has won the prize for his pioneering work and practice of IVF since 1958 till today, when he is 85 years old.

Since his first field experiment successfully performed in 1978, Professor Robert had been instrumental in wiping off the tears of lakhs of mothers who could not have children of their own. More than 15,000 in France have benefited by Prof, Robert's discovery.

The scientific community all over the world will be joining us when we say that Robert Edwards has-brought as much glory to the Nobel Prize as the Nobel Prize has brought glory to the scientists. Starting from stimulation of egg production by fertility drugs for 1-8 days. 9-13 days are spent to monitor with ultrasound the ripening of the eggs in the ovaries, 14-15 days are utilized to remove the eggs from ovaries and mixed with a sperm in a petridish. After 16 to 17 days, when the fertilized eggs become embryos, they are placed in the uterus. This is a very delicate experiment.

The problem of ethics is only when the experiment is outside the wedlock. Just two months later, Dr. Subhash Mukhopadhyay could successfully perform this experiment. The credit for the successful second 'test-tube baby' is his.

However, it is unfortunate that this was not published. We all know that a successful experiment like this cannot be performed in a day. If only every step had been documented and published in any science journal, credit would have been shared. This emphasizes the importance of fast publications.

This is a lesson for Indian students. They are capable of doing original work. Have a nerve of steel and pursue your goal, A strong will and the conviction, that one is along the right path and speed, is as much necessary as knowledge, in order to win any battle; the battle field of science is not different.