4-IVF pioneer wins Novel Prize in medicine

Robert Edwards of Britain won the 2010 Nobel Prize in medicine Oct. 4 for developing in vitro fertilization, a controversial breakthrough that ignited sharp criticism from religious leaders but helped millions of infertile couples in the past three decades have children.
Edwards, an 85-year-old professor emeritus at the University of Cambridge, started working on IVF as early as the 1950's. He developed the technique — in which egg cells are removed from a woman, fertilized outside her body and then implanted into the womb — together with gynecologist surgeon Patrick Steptoe, who died in 1988. On July 25, 1978, Louise Brown in Britain became the first baby born through the procedure, marking a revolution in fertility treatment.
Edward's achievements have made it possible to treat infertility. (AP)

体外受精者先駆者にノーベル賞
ノーベル賞委員会は10月4日、ノーベル医学生理学賞を体外受精技術を開発した英国のロバート・エドワーズ氏に贈ると発表した。

controversial：賛否両論ある/breakthrough：画期的なこと/ignited：～に火をつけた/infertile：不妊の/professor emeritus：名誉教授/fertilized：受精される/implanted into：埋め込まれる/womb：子宮/gynecologist：婦人科医/marking a revolution：革命をおこした/infertility：不妊症

コメント：今ちょうど授業でこのことについて勉強していたので、とても興味を持った。難しい問題ではあるが、医学に新たな可能性を与えたという点では、非常に画期的な発見であったと思う。