Report: British scientist who developed test tube fertilization could win Nobel Prize

Report: Test tube scientist could win Nobel Prize

STOCKHOLM — A Swedish newspaper says a British researcher who developed test-tube fertilization and gave thousands of infertile couples the chance to have children could receive the Nobel Prize in medicine.

Citing unnamed sources, daily Svenska Dagbladet said that Robert Edwards is the “hottest” candidate to receive the 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.5 million) award, which will be announced Monday.

Starting in the 1950s, Edwards and Patrick Steptoe developed so-called IVF technology in which egg cells are fertilized outside the body and implanted in the womb. Steptoe died in 1988.

Other leading Nobel watchers have guessed that Kyoto University Prof. Shinya Yamanaka could be awarded for his discovery how to make stem cells from ordinary skin cells.