Jean Purdy

Jean Marian Purdy was a British nurse, embryologist and pioneer of fertility treatment. She was responsible with Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe for developing in vitro fertilisation (IVF); Louise Joy Brown, the first "test-tube baby", was born on 25 July 1978, and Purdy was the first to see the embryonic cells dividing. Purdy was a co-founder of the Bourn Hall Clinic but her role there and in the development of IVF was ignored for 30 years. Following the publication of Edwards' papers in the 2010s, her vital contributions to IVF have been publicly recognised.

Country

United Kingdom

Status

deceased

Dates

Lived 1945 to 1985 · aged 39

Written about in

11 languages