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Patrick Steptoe

 
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Patrick Christopher Steptoe (June 9, 1913, Oxford
Oxford

Oxford is a City status in the United Kingdom, and the county town of Oxfordshire, in South East England. It has a population of 151,000. The rivers River Cherwell and River Thames run through Oxford and meet south of the city centre....
, England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 - March 21,1988, Canterbury
Canterbury

Canterbury lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a local government district of Kent, in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
) was a British
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 obstetrician
Obstetrics

Obstetrics is the surgery speciality dealing with the care of a woman and her offspring during pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium . Midwifery is the non-medical equivalent....
 and gynaecologist
Gynaecology

Gynaecology or gynecology refers to the surgical specialty dealing with health of the female sex organ . Literally, outside medicine, it means "the science of women"....
 and a pioneer of fertility
Fertility

Fertility is the natural capability of giving life. As a measure, "fertility rate" is the number of children born per couple, person or population....
 treatment. Steptoe was responsible with biologist
Biology

Biology is a branch of the natural sciences concerned with the study of living organisms and their interaction with each other and their environment ....
 and physiologist
Physiology

Physiology is the study of the mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions of living organisms. Physiology has traditionally been divided between plant physiology and animal and all living things physiology but the principles of physiology are universal, no matter what particular organism is being studied....
 Robert Edwards
Robert Edwards (physiologist)

Robert Geoffrey Edwards, Order of the British Empire is a United Kingdom physiologist and pioneer in reproductive medicine, and in-vitro fertilization in particular....
 for developing in vitro fertilization. The birth
Childbirth

Childbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with the delivery of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus. The process of normal human childbirth is categorized in three stages of labour: the shortening and dilation of the cervix, descent and delivery of the infant, and delivery of the placenta.....
 of the first test-tube baby, Louise Joy Brown, occurred on July 25, 1978.

toe was educated at King's College London
King's College London

King's College London is a United Kingdom higher education institution and co-founding constituent college of the University of London. Founded by George IV of the United Kingdom and the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington in 1829, its royal charter is predated, in England, only by those of the Universities of University of Oxford and Un...
 and graduated from St George's Hospital Medical School
St George's, University of London

St George's, University of London , previously known as St George's Hospital Medical School , is a specialist medical school of the University of London....
, London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
 in 1939.

r the Second World War, he studied obstetrics
Obstetrics

Obstetrics is the surgery speciality dealing with the care of a woman and her offspring during pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium . Midwifery is the non-medical equivalent....
 and, in 1951 he started to work at the Oldham General Hospital.






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Patrick Christopher Steptoe (June 9, 1913, Oxford
Oxford

Oxford is a City status in the United Kingdom, and the county town of Oxfordshire, in South East England. It has a population of 151,000. The rivers River Cherwell and River Thames run through Oxford and meet south of the city centre....
, England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 - March 21,1988, Canterbury
Canterbury

Canterbury lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a local government district of Kent, in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
) was a British
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 obstetrician
Obstetrics

Obstetrics is the surgery speciality dealing with the care of a woman and her offspring during pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium . Midwifery is the non-medical equivalent....
 and gynaecologist
Gynaecology

Gynaecology or gynecology refers to the surgical specialty dealing with health of the female sex organ . Literally, outside medicine, it means "the science of women"....
 and a pioneer of fertility
Fertility

Fertility is the natural capability of giving life. As a measure, "fertility rate" is the number of children born per couple, person or population....
 treatment. Steptoe was responsible with biologist
Biology

Biology is a branch of the natural sciences concerned with the study of living organisms and their interaction with each other and their environment ....
 and physiologist
Physiology

Physiology is the study of the mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions of living organisms. Physiology has traditionally been divided between plant physiology and animal and all living things physiology but the principles of physiology are universal, no matter what particular organism is being studied....
 Robert Edwards
Robert Edwards (physiologist)

Robert Geoffrey Edwards, Order of the British Empire is a United Kingdom physiologist and pioneer in reproductive medicine, and in-vitro fertilization in particular....
 for developing in vitro fertilization. The birth
Childbirth

Childbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with the delivery of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus. The process of normal human childbirth is categorized in three stages of labour: the shortening and dilation of the cervix, descent and delivery of the infant, and delivery of the placenta.....
 of the first test-tube baby, Louise Joy Brown, occurred on July 25, 1978.

Education

Steptoe was educated at King's College London
King's College London

King's College London is a United Kingdom higher education institution and co-founding constituent college of the University of London. Founded by George IV of the United Kingdom and the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington in 1829, its royal charter is predated, in England, only by those of the Universities of University of Oxford and Un...
 and graduated from St George's Hospital Medical School
St George's, University of London

St George's, University of London , previously known as St George's Hospital Medical School , is a specialist medical school of the University of London....
, London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
 in 1939.

Laparoscopic Pioneer

After the Second World War, he studied obstetrics
Obstetrics

Obstetrics is the surgery speciality dealing with the care of a woman and her offspring during pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium . Midwifery is the non-medical equivalent....
 and, in 1951 he started to work at the Oldham General Hospital. From Mr. Raoul Palmer he learned the technique of laparoscopy and promoted its usefulness. In 1967 he published a book on Laparoscopy in Gynaecology. Subsequently, Robert Edwards
Robert Edwards (physiologist)

Robert Geoffrey Edwards, Order of the British Empire is a United Kingdom physiologist and pioneer in reproductive medicine, and in-vitro fertilization in particular....
, a physiologist from the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge , located in Cambridge, England, is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation university in the Anglosphere....
, contacted him and got him interested to collaborate in the development of in vitro fertilization.

Bourn Hall, Cambridgeshire

Work with Edwards

Steptoe became the Director of the Centre for Human Reproduction, Oldham
Oldham

Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk and River Medlock, south-southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of the city of Manchester....
 in 1969. Using laparoscopy, he collected the ova
Ovum

An ovum is a haploid female reproductive cell or gamete. Both animals and embryophytes have ova. The term ovule is used for the young ovum of an animal, as well as the plant structure that carries the female gametophyte and egg cell and develops into a seed after fertilization....
 from volunteering infertile women who saw his place as their last hope to achieve a pregnancy. Edwards and his assistant Jean Purdy provided the laboratory expertise. During this time they had to endure criticism and hostility to their work. Finally, in 1978, the birth of Louise Brown changed everything. Although he encountered further criticism, other clinics were able to follow the lead and patients responded. To accommodate the increased patient number and train specialists, he and Edwards founded the Bourn Hall Clinic
Bourn Hall Clinic

Bourn Hall Clinic in Bourn, Cambridgeshire, England, is one of the world's leading centres for the treatment of infertility in couples. The original building, Bourn Hall, is about 400 years old....
, Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire is a Counties_of_the_United_Kingdom#England in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex, England and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west....
 in 1980 of which he was a Medical Director until his death.