In vitro fertilization is popularly, and inaccurately, associated with the term “test tube babies.” The technique, which literally means “fertilization in glass,” was first developed to help women with blocked, damaged or missing Fallopian tubes. In nature, after ovulation, the mature egg waits in the narrow neck of a Fallopian tube for a sperm to fertilize it. With in vitro fertilization, the doctor plucks the egg from the follicle on the ovary just before ovulation and transfers the egg to a Petri dish where fertilization occurs. The egg is then returned to the woman's womb and hopefully a normal pregnancy is begun. The first child born from this method was Louise Joy Brown, who made her debut on this date in 1978 in England.

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