Test-Tube Baby Pioneer and Nobel Prize Winning Scientist Robert Edwards Dies at 87

British Nobel prize-winning scientist Robert Edwards died Wednesday after a long illness, according to Reuters. He was 87.

Known for development of the "test tube babies," which gave the ability to conceive through in-vitro fertilization (IVF), he also founded the world's first IVF clinic in his home town of Cambridge, eastern England in 1980.

"It is with deep sadness that the family announces that Professor Sir Robert Edwards, Nobel prize winner, scientist and co-pioneer of IVF, passed away peacefully in his sleep," Cambridge University said in a statement, adding that Edwards would be greatly missed by family and friends whose work had touched many and made "an immense impact throughout the world."

Despite that Edwards hit controversial issues between the Catholic Church and fellow scientists on his way to helping those conceive who could not, he gave his career to making that dream of a child come true for so many who would never have the opportunity to procreate.  

He was awarded the Nobel prize for medicine in 2010, five decades after he began experimenting and long after the birth of the world's first test-tube baby, Louise Brown, in 1978.

"Bob Edwards is one of our greatest scientists," said Mike Macnamee, chief executive of Bourn Hall, the IVF clinic that Edwards founded with his fellow IVF pioneer Patrick Steptoe, a gynaecological surgeon.

"His inspirational work in the early 1960s led to a breakthrough that has enhanced the lives of millions of people worldwide. He is held in great affection by everyone who has worked with him and was treated by him."

He also added that  working with Edwards was a privillege and that "his passing is a great loss to us all."