The road to 1978: a brief history of fertility research

This issue of The Biochemist acknowledges the 40th anniversary of the birth of the first IVF baby, Louise Brown, and with it the emergence of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). These developments did not arise in a vacuum; the history of baby making dates back well before 1978. The influence of fecundity (the ability to reproduce) has been deliberated since the Palaeolithic period.