On St Valentine's day 1969 the journal Nature published a paper that was to rock the foundations of science, medicine and society.  Innocently entitled 'Early stages of fertilization in vitro of human oocytes matured in vitro', the paper, with masterly understatement, went on to say "There may be certain clinical and scientific uses for human eggs fertilzed by this procedure".  Since then we have had not just IVF, but stem cells, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, saviour siblings, and many other major clinical advances that have helped millions worldwide to have healthy babies where previously this was not possible.  In addition, these technologies have spawned a mass of sociological, anthropological, legal, ethical, theological and artistic responses and developments and have wrought changes to our ideas about family and social structure.

These achievements were reviewed and reflected upon in a fascinating interdisciplinary meeting held in The Yusuf Hamied Centre at Christ's College on 14th February 2009.  Attended by some 120 people, drawn from science, medicine, the arts, anthropology, law and ethics - many of them pioneers in these areas - a gratifying mix of the young and hte old!  A stimulating day of talks and discussions was led by Professor Martin Johnson, Baroness Onora O'Neill, Professor Emily Jackson, Professor Sir Richard Gardner, Professor Peter Braude, Professor Dame Marilyn Strathern, Professor Marina Warner, Professor Lisa Jardine, Professor Sarah Franklin, Professor Jacques Cohen and Dr Nick Hopwood.  It was striking that, as the day's activities built, the meeting came to pay tribute to the extraordinary foresight and pioneering courage of Bob Edwards who, in the face of almost uniform social and scientific criticism, kept his vision alive and finally saw it blossom.

For the programme see http://www.pdn.cam.ac.uk/40yearsivf/; video link http://www.pdn.cam.ac.uk/40yearsivf/aims.html

 Supported by the Wellcome Trust, Nature, the Master and Fellows of Christ's College & The Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge.