被誉为“试管婴儿之父”的英国科学家、2010年诺贝尔生理学或医学奖得主罗伯特·爱德华兹10日去世，享年87岁。
剑桥大学10日发表声明说，“他的家人怀着极其悲痛的心情宣布，罗伯特·爱德华兹爵士、教授、诺贝尔奖得主、试管授精技术的联合创始人，在睡眠中平静地离世。”
“经历了长时间的病痛之后，爱德华兹爵士在睡梦中安详地逝去。”剑桥大学在声明中表示，他的工作在世界各地都具有巨大的影响，他的逝世令人深感悲痛。
试管婴儿技术是爱德华兹和英国产科医生帕特里克·斯特普托合作研究成功的。1978年，世界上第一个试管婴儿路易丝·布朗在英国的奥尔德姆市医院诞生，引起全球科学界的轰动，也带来了巨大的争议。
2010年，爱德华兹获得诺贝尔生理学或医学奖，评审委员会称这项技术是“现代医学发展里程碑”，帮助全球10%的夫妇免受无法生育的困扰。
但也有不少科学界、宗教界人士批评这项研究成果，认为这些“人造生命”可能破坏社会的伦理关系。经过几十年的发展，目前试管婴儿技术已经日益成熟，并在世界范围内受到了肯定和推广。
test-tube baby pioneer dies, aged 87
british scientist robert edwards, known as "father" of the first test-tube baby in the world, died on wednesday aged 87, the university of cambridge announced。
edwards, who was awarded a nobel prize for his pioneering work in developing in vitro fertilisation (ivf) in cooperation with his colleague patrick steptoe, led to the birth of the first "test-tube baby" louise brown in 1978.
the invention has made the dream of having a baby come true for millions of people worldwide as figures show that about 4 million babies have been born with the help of ivf treatment。
"it is with deep sadness that the family announces that professor sir robert edwards, nobel prizewinner, scientist and co pioneer of ivf, passed away peacefully in his sleep on april 10, 2013 after a long illness," cambridge university said in a statement。
"he will be greatly missed by family, friends and colleagues."
born in yorkshire in northern england on sept. 27, 1925, into a working-class family, edwards served in the british army during world war ii before returning home to study first agricultural sciences and then animal genetics。
building on earlier research which showed that egg cells from rabbits could be fertilized in test tubes when sperm was added, edwards developed the same technique for humans。
in a laboratory in cambridge, eastern england, in 1968, he first saw life created outside the womb in the form of a human blastocyst, an embryo that has developed for five to six days after fertilisation。
his many honors include being made a fellow of the royal society, britain's foremost science institution, in 1984. he was appointed an emeritus professor at cambridge in 1989.