Jean Marian Purdy (25 April 1945 – 16 March 1985) was a British

nurse Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health c ...

and

embryologist Embryology (from Greek ἔμβρυον, ''embryon'', "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, '' -logia'') is the branch of animal biology that studies the prenatal development of gametes (sex cells), fertilization, and development of embryos and ...

and a pioneer of

fertility Fertility is the capability to produce offspring through reproduction following the onset of sexual maturity. The fertility rate is the average number of children born by a female during her lifetime and is quantified demographically. Fertili ...

treatment. Purdy was responsible with Robert Edwards and

Patrick Steptoe Patrick Christopher Steptoe CBE FRS (9 June 1913 – 21 March 1988) was an English obstetrician and gynaecologist and a pioneer of fertility treatment. Steptoe was responsible with biologist and physiologist Robert Edwards and the nurse Jean ...

for developing

in vitro fertilisation In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating an individual's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) ...

Louise Joy Brown Louise Joy Brown (born 25 July 1978) is an English woman who was the first human to have been born after conception by ''in vitro'' fertilisation experiment (IVF). Her birth, following a procedure pioneered in Britain, has been lauded among "t ...

, the first

test-tube baby In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating an individual's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) ...

, was born on 25 July 1978, and Purdy was the first to see the embryonic cells dividing. Edwards was awarded the 2010

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accord ...

for his work on the development of in vitro fertilisation; however, because the Nobel Prize is not awarded posthumously, neither Purdy nor Steptoe were eligible for consideration. Purdy was a co-founder of the

Bourn Hall Clinic Bourn Hall Clinic in Bourn, Cambridgeshire, England, is a centre for the treatment of infertility. The original building, Bourn Hall, is about 400 years old. Since becoming a medical centre, it has been greatly extended. History Bourn Hall C ...

but her role there and in the development of IVF was ignored for 30 years.

Education

Purdy attended Cambridgeshire High School for Girls between 1956 and 1963 where she became a

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

, joined sports teams and played violin in the orchestra. She trained to be a nurse at

Addenbrooke's Hospital Addenbrooke's Hospital is an internationally renowned large teaching hospital and research centre in Cambridge, England, with strong affiliations to the University of Cambridge. Addenbrooke's Hospital is based on the Cambridge Biomedical Campu ...

in Cambridge.

Career

After gaining registration as a nurse, Purdy moved to

Southampton General Hospital Southampton General Hospital (SGH) is a large teaching hospital in Southampton, Hampshire, England run by University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital was founded in 1900 as the Southampton Union Infirmary in Shi ...

, but was unhappy there and applied for a research post locally to work on tissue rejection, before transferring to

Papworth Hospital Royal Papworth Hospital is a specialist heart and lung hospital, located on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridgeshire, England. The Hospital is run by Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. The hospital is a world-leading cardiot ...

in her home county where the first open-heart surgeries (and, later, heart transplants) were pioneered in Britain. In 1968, she applied for and obtained a post with Robert Edwards at the Physiological Laboratory in Cambridge.

Work with Edwards and Steptoe

Steptoe became the Director of the Centre for Human Reproduction,

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...

in 1969. Using laparoscopy, he collected the

ova , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

from volunteering infertile women who saw his place as their last hope to achieve a pregnancy. Purdy began her work with the Steptoe and Edwards as a lab technician. She played a significant and increasingly vital role, to the extent that, when she took time off to care for her sick mother, work had to pause. During this time they had to endure criticism and hostility to their work. It was Purdy who first saw that a fertilised egg, which was to become Louise Brown, was dividing to make new cells. The birth of Louise Brown in 1978 changed perceptions and, to accommodate the increased demand and to train specialists, the team founded the

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

in 1980. Purdy was a co-author on 26 papers with Steptoe and Edwards, and 370 IVF children were conceived during her career.

Death and legacy

Purdy died in 1985 at the age of 39 from

malignant melanoma Melanoma, also redundantly known as malignant melanoma, is a type of skin cancer that develops from the Biological pigment, pigment-producing cells known as melanocytes. Melanomas typically occur in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, i ...

and is buried in

Grantchester Grantchester is a village and civil parish on the River Cam or Granta in South Cambridgeshire, England. It lies about south of Cambridge. Name The village of Grantchester is listed in the 1086 Domesday Book as ''Grantesete'' and ''Graunts ...

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

's award for the MRes Reproductive Science and Women's Health is named after her.

Recognition

When it was decided that a plaque should be put up to record the achievement, Edwards suggested that the plaque should be phrased "Human in vitro fertilisation followed by the world's first successful pregnancy was performed at this hospital by Dr. Robert Edwards, Mr. Patrick Steptoe, Miss Jean Purdy and their supporting staff in November, 1977". Recognition for Purdy was ignored and the Oldham NHS Trust received a letter of complaint from Edwards in 1982. Bourn Hall erected a plaque in 2013 which again ignored Purdy's contribution. In a plenary lecture in 1998, celebrating the 20th anniversary of clinical IVF, Robert Edwards gave tribute to Jean Purdy, saying: "There were three original pioneers in IVF and not just two". Professor

Andrew Steptoe Andrew Patrick Arthur Steptoe (born 24 April 1951) is a British psychologist and epidemiologist and Head of the Department of Behavioural Science and Health at University College London. He is a pioneer in health psychology and behavioural med ...

, son of Patrick Steptoe, unveiled a plaque in 2015 that acknowledged the three people who were involved in developing IVF. In 2018, to mark the 40th anniversary of IVF, Bourn Hall unveiled a memorial to Jean Purdy, the "world's first IVF nurse and embryologist. Co-founder of Bourn Hall Clinic".

References

External links

Brinsden, Peter R. "The Story of Patrick Steptoe, Robert Edwards, Jean Purdy, and Bourn Hall Clinic" in Kovacs, Gabor; Brinsden, Peter; DeCherney, Alan (eds) (June 2018) ''In Vitro-Fertilization: The Pioneers' History'', Cambridge University Press
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108551946.005]
Orbach, Connie (9 July 2018). ''Jean Purdy: The Forgotten IVF Pioneer''. Science Museum, LondonSouthworth, Phoebe (10 June 2019). ''Nurse behind first IVF baby was snubbed for position on plaque honouring the achievement''.
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The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Purdy, Jean Marian 1945 births 1985 deaths 20th-century English medical doctors British embryologists British women nurses Deaths from cancer in England Deaths from melanoma English nurses In vitro fertilisation People from Cambridge