The five: unsung female scientists
The history of science has often seen women’s work overlooked and their credit stolen
Contemporary letters revealed this week that a key figure in the birth of the first IVF baby in 1978, embryologist and nurse Jean Purdy, was excluded from a plaque at the Oldham hospitals involved. Attempts by one of the two men credited with the discovery, Prof Sir Robert Edwards, to include her name were rebuffed by the local health authorities. Edwards was later awarded a Nobel prize.