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Yorkshire common sense
12 Yorkshire common sense Dave Griffin Norfolk, UK My first recollections of Bob Edwards are from the earlymid 1960s, when as a young laboratory technician in the Physiological Laboratory in Cambridge working on neuromuscular events I would sneak in to listen to Bob’s lectures on reproductive physiology. This posed somewhat of a challenge not only because it took me some time to ‘tune in’ to Bob’s Yorkshire accent and to keep up with the speed of his delivery but also because, in the mundane world of nerves and muscles, human reproduction was considered a highly risqu´ e subject. There was, therefore, a certain frisson attached to listening to Bob’s lectures not only because of the interesting nature of the subject matter but also because of the inherent risk of being discovered taking an interest in a subject of such dubious respectability! Bob and I have a number of things in common. We were both ‘mature students’, in that we both started our Bachelor’s degree courses at the grand old age of 23 and we both graduated with somewhat modest degrees. My 2.2 was sufficient to get me employment in the Marshall Laboratory in 1970 formally as chief technician and informally as Bob’s research assistant. This was the beginning of a lifelong friendship facilitated by Bob’s egalitarianism, his sense of humour and Yorkshire common sense and pragmatism. I have many happy memories of long discussions with Bob especially ‘after hours’ in the office or in The Fountain public house. The discussions, inevitably, centred on the moral, ethical and technical aspects of IVF but also covered such diverse topics as the induction of secretory immunity in the reproductive tracts as a potential means of contraception, and the in-vitro production of tetraploid cow embryos with which we would corner the market in inexpensive rump steak! It was largely due to my association with Bob that I was offered a job in the Human Reproduction Programme at the World Health Organization where I worked from 1975 2004, mainly on the development of new and improved methods
Fig. 1. Bob celebrating in Norfolk with Dave Griffin on the occasion of Dave’s 50th birthday party in 1994.
Bob Edwards Nobel Laureate of family planning including immunocontraception but also, more recently, on convening an international meeting on the practices and controversies in assisted reproduction thus completing the circle. Although I lost touch with Bob on a day-to-day basis during this period, I was able to keep in touch and meet up with him on a number of occasions at various conferences and meetings around the world where, in spite of the constant demands on his time, he always had time to chat and reminisce. Bob even took time, to come, with Ruth, to our house in Norfolk to help me celebrate my 50th birthday and seemed to be genuinely amused by the ridiculous T-shirt I wore for the occasion. It is a privilege to know and to have worked with Bob, and I am proud to be able to say that this man who has brought hope and happiness to millions of people worldwide is my friend and mentor. Professor RG Edwards, CBE, FRS RHF Hunter Oxnam, Jedburgh, Roxburghshire (formerly Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge) Seldom is one invited to compose words of tribute to a Nobel Laureate, and the present attempt is a special opportunity. I have admired and respected Bob and his work since first meeting him in the laboratory of the late Professor Chris Polge in Cambridge. On that afternoon in the autumn of 1963, this relatively young, somewhat ruffled chap arrived at the Animal Research Station in a battered old Vauxhall and, slightly breathless, bounced into the lab full of warmth, charm and enthusiasm. These qualities never left him, and to these should be added modesty and kindness. Very few scientists of such distinction have remained so natural and approachable. Bob and Chris had known each other from the National Institute for Medical Research in Mill Hill where, in the early 1950s, Chris was still working on deep-freeze preservation of cells in the laboratory of Dr AS Parkes. However, 1961 found Parkes in Cambridge as the newly-established Marshall Professor, and Bob joined him there in 1963 at the top of the Physiology Department. The Marshall laboratories were surprisingly spartan, and Bob was clearly pleased to discover the well-equipped laboratories at the Animal Research Station, not least the superb microscopes. He was also stimulated to find a team of people who were not only engaged in exciting research, but who took themselves less seriously than most senior academics on the Downing Site. At this stage, Bob was focusing on mammalian oocytes and the timescale of their maturation in vitro, which was close to research interests in the Polge laboratory. There were detailed discussions of Pincus’ work in the 1930s, and the studies of Chang and of Thibault in the 1950s. There were also shared sessions at the Zeiss photomicroscope, leading Chris to remark that Bob could see more under the microscope than anyone else! Bob was already en route towards IVF, and soon mentioned his designs upon a larger canvas. His subsequent work is, of course, well-known. Not so widely appreciated is the harsh criticism to which he was subjected for a decade or more from the late 1960s
Fig. 1. Bob celebrating in Norfolk with Dave Griffin on the occasion of Dave’s 50th birthday party in 1994.
Bob Edwards Nobel Laureate of family planning including immunocontraception but also, more recently, on convening an international meeting on the practices and controversies in assisted reproduction thus completing the circle. Although I lost touch with Bob on a day-to-day basis during this period, I was able to keep in touch and meet up with him on a number of occasions at various conferences and meetings around the world where, in spite of the constant demands on his time, he always had time to chat and reminisce. Bob even took time, to come, with Ruth, to our house in Norfolk to help me celebrate my 50th birthday and seemed to be genuinely amused by the ridiculous T-shirt I wore for the occasion. It is a privilege to know and to have worked with Bob, and I am proud to be able to say that this man who has brought hope and happiness to millions of people worldwide is my friend and mentor. Professor RG Edwards, CBE, FRS RHF Hunter Oxnam, Jedburgh, Roxburghshire (formerly Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge) Seldom is one invited to compose words of tribute to a Nobel Laureate, and the present attempt is a special opportunity. I have admired and respected Bob and his work since first meeting him in the laboratory of the late Professor Chris Polge in Cambridge. On that afternoon in the autumn of 1963, this relatively young, somewhat ruffled chap arrived at the Animal Research Station in a battered old Vauxhall and, slightly breathless, bounced into the lab full of warmth, charm and enthusiasm. These qualities never left him, and to these should be added modesty and kindness. Very few scientists of such distinction have remained so natural and approachable. Bob and Chris had known each other from the National Institute for Medical Research in Mill Hill where, in the early 1950s, Chris was still working on deep-freeze preservation of cells in the laboratory of Dr AS Parkes. However, 1961 found Parkes in Cambridge as the newly-established Marshall Professor, and Bob joined him there in 1963 at the top of the Physiology Department. The Marshall laboratories were surprisingly spartan, and Bob was clearly pleased to discover the well-equipped laboratories at the Animal Research Station, not least the superb microscopes. He was also stimulated to find a team of people who were not only engaged in exciting research, but who took themselves less seriously than most senior academics on the Downing Site. At this stage, Bob was focusing on mammalian oocytes and the timescale of their maturation in vitro, which was close to research interests in the Polge laboratory. There were detailed discussions of Pincus’ work in the 1930s, and the studies of Chang and of Thibault in the 1950s. There were also shared sessions at the Zeiss photomicroscope, leading Chris to remark that Bob could see more under the microscope than anyone else! Bob was already en route towards IVF, and soon mentioned his designs upon a larger canvas. His subsequent work is, of course, well-known. Not so widely appreciated is the harsh criticism to which he was subjected for a decade or more from the late 1960s