In 2010, Dr Robert Edwards was awarded a Nobel prize – a remarkable achievement when compared with the early hostility he experienced. It was not until the turn of the 21st century that IVF babies were no longer considered freakish, IVF treatment shameful and work on IVF no longer stigmatized. I first encountered Bob Edwards in 1965 when a 3rd year undergraduate at Cambridge – his lecture course providing a futuristic vision of reproduction. I was so inspired that I postponed my clinical course and commenced a PhD with him.