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First "Test Tube" Baby

The medical term for test-tube baby is "in vitro" fertilization which means fertilization "in glass" in Latin. In this method the fertilization of the egg by the sperm takes place in a glass petri dish. The fertilized egg is then placed in a woman's uterus.

The first authenticated "test tube" baby was Louise Brown. She was born in England on July 25, 1978. ¹ Other, earlier babies conceived in this way are mentioned in 1974:

"A respected, pioneering obstetrician-gynecologist [Douglas C.A. Bevis] reported that in three cases a ripe egg cell had been removed from a wife and fertilized in a laboratory by sperm from her husband; then the resulting conceptus had been implanted in the wife's womb and she had given birth to a normal child. The three babies thus conceived are now from twelve to 18 months old....Bevis properly insisted on concelaling his patients' itentities..."²

Sources:

1.New York Times Index, 1978. p.877.
2.Time. July 29, 1974. p. 58.

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