Pioneer behind the first test-tube baby knighted

The honour comes eight months after the scientist was awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine in recognition of how his work has given hope to countless childless couples.

His wife Ruth said: “This honour recognises his years of devotion and dedication to alleviate human infertility despite many setbacks and much opposition.

“His success in pioneering IVF has brought happiness to millions of people worldwide.

“Bob is delighted to be receiving this honour, an award that all the family feel is so richly deserved.”

Sir Robert, 85, worked with gynaecologist Patrick Steptoe to develop the first successful in-vitro fertilisation techniques despite funding difficulties and resistance from the medical establishment.

The method, which involves fertilising egg cells outside the body and implanting them in the womb, resulted in the birth of Louise Brown on July 25 1978 and revolutionised fertility treatment.

By the time Dr Steptoe died in 1988, 1,000 babies had been conceived at the IVF clinic founded by the two men at Bourn Hall, near Cambridge.

More than four million children have now been born worldwide as a result of the technique.

Dr Mike Macnamee, chief executive of Bourn Hall Clinic, said: “We are overjoyed that Bob and his lifetime’s work has been acknowledged in this way.

“He is an inspiration to everyone working in the field of medical research and is held in great affection by colleagues and patients alike.”

Sir Robert was born in Batley, West Yorkshire, in 1925 and served in the Army during the Second World War.

He studied biology at Bangor University in Wales and went on to complete a PhD at Edinburgh University on embryo development in mice.

The scientist began research into fertility treatment in 1955, working at Cambridge University from 1963 onwards, although it was many years before he made the breakthrough that led to a successful pregnancy.

He has said in the past: “The most important thing in life is having a child. Nothing is more special than a child.”

Sir Robert, who is now emeritus professor of human reproduction at Cambridge University, received a CBE in 1988 but colleagues said full official recognition for his work should have come sooner.

Also honoured in the field of medicine was a mother who campaigned for more people from ethnic minorities to become bone marrow donors after her son developed leukaemia.

Beverley De-Gale, 51, set up the African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust with her partner, Orin Lewis, to raise awareness of the huge shortage of black donors.

Their son Daniel was diagnosed with the disease in 1993 when he was six and after a relapse two years later doctors said his only hope for survival lay in a bone marrow transplant.

At that time only about 550 of the 285,000 people on the UK bone marrow donor register were black or mixed race, meaning his chance of finding a match in Britain was just one in 250,000.

Ms De-Gale, from Croydon, south London, founded the charity in 1996 to encourage more members of ethnic minorities to register as donors. Daniel finally received a bone marrow transplant in 1999, allowing him another nine years of life before his death in 2008 at the age of 21.

His mother said: “I feel absolutely blessed to receive this award. Myself and Orin have had a particularly bad last two-and-a-half years, losing our son at the age of 21, and we have struggled.