ABSTRACT
In vitro fertilization (IVF) and its derivatives in preimplantation diagnosis, stem cells, and the ethics of assisted reproduction continue to attract immense attention scientifically and socially. All these topics were introduced by 1970. Hardly a day passes without some public recognition of events related to this study, and clinics spread ever further worldwide. Now we must be approaching 1.5 million IVF births, it is time to celebrate what has been achieved by so many investigators, clinical, scientific, and ethical. While much of this “Introduction” covers the massive accumulation of events between 1960 and 2000, it also briefly discusses new perspectives emerging in the 21st century. Fresh advances also increase curiosity about how these fields of study began and how their ethical implications were addressed in earlier days. As for me, I am still stirred by recollections of those early days. Foundations were laid in Edinburgh, London, and Glasgow in the 1950s and early 1960s. Discoveries made then led to later days in Cambridge, working there with many PhD students. It also resulted in my working with Patrick Steptoe in Oldham. Our joint opening of Bourn Hall in 1980, which became the largest IVF clinic of its kind at the time, signified the end of the beginning of assisted human conception and the onset of dedicated applied studies.
