Charles Georges Thibault (1919-2003): inspirational leader in French reproductive biology.

The contribution of Charles Thibault in creating and developing a major international centre of animal research at Jouy-en-Josas (near Versailles) in post Second World War France is recorded in detail. Not only did he select a team of gifted young chercheurs, but he stimulated and supported their research in diverse ways. The projects covered were not only primarily of significance to animal reproduction, but they also became relevant to human infertility studies and to IVF treatments. Members of the team in Physiologie Animale gained international research reputations and seasoned overseas researchers were attracted to Jouy-en-Josas for their sabbaticals. Thibault himself was known especially for his studies on the mammalian oocyte, on fertilization both in vivo and in vitro, and for a key publication on parthenogenesis. Over and above leading the department of Physiologie Animale at the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), he was Professor of Reproductive Physiology at the University of Paris VI and an influential member of national committees in Paris. His formal career reached a peak with his appointment as President of the French scientific research organisation (CNRS), and his overall contributions were celebrated both nationally and internationally, not least as Commander of the Legion d'Honneur and recipient of the Wolf Prize, the latter being presented in the Israeli Parliament, the Knessett. His influence continues to be strong, felt in France and beyond through his protégés and his publications.

Reproductive Politics in Twentieth-Century France and Britain.

This special issue adopts a comparative approach to the politics of reproduction in twentieth-century France and Britain. The articles investigate the flow of information, practices and tools across national boundaries and between groups of experts, activists and laypeople. Empirically grounded in medical, news media and feminist sources, as well as ethnographic fieldwork, they reveal the practical similarities that existed between countries with officially different political regimes as well as local differences within the two countries. Taken as a whole, the special issue shows that the border between France and Britain was more porous than is typically apparent from nationally-focused studies: ideas, people and devices travelled in both directions; communication strategies were always able to evade the rule of law; contraceptive practices were surprisingly similar in both countries; and religion loomed large in debates on both sides of the channel.

Reflections on the reproductive sciences in agriculture in the UK and US, ca. 1900-2000+.

This paper provides a brief comparative overview of the development of the reproductive sciences especially in agriculture in the UK and the US. It begins with the establishment by F. H. A. Marshall in 1910 of the boundaries that framed the reproductive sciences as distinct from genetics and embryology. It then examines how and where the reproductive sciences were taken up in agricultural research settings, focusing on the differential development of US and UK institutions. The reproductive sciences were also pursued in medical and biological settings, and I discuss how the intersections among all three allowed the circulation of both ideas and scientists' careers. Across the twentieth century, scientific leadership in the reproductive sciences alternated between the UK and US, and these patterns are elucidated. I conclude with thoughts on future research that might emphasize the elaboration of industrialization processes in agriculture and new capacities to transform both reproductive processes and their products--life itself--as biopower comes to be more ambitiously understood as extending across all species.

The farm as clinic: veterinary expertise and the transformation of dairy farming, 1930-1950.

This paper explores the wartime creation of veterinary expertise in cattle breeding, and its contribution to the transition between two very different types of agriculture. During the interwar period, falling prices and steep competition from imports caused farmers to adopt a 'low input, low output' approach. To cut costs, they usually butchered, marketed or doctored diseased cows in preference to seeking veterinary aid. World War II forced a greater dependence on domestic food production, and inspired wide-ranging state-directed attempts to increase agricultural output. However, the weak connection between veterinary services and livestock productivity meant that the drive for greater milk yields did not automatically translate into a demand for improved veterinary health care. Rather veterinary expertise had to be actively created and made relevant to the new context. Leaders of the profession secured this goal through establishing a government-backed 'scheme for the control of certain diseases of dairy cows'. Drawing on pre-existing but rarely applied reproductive technologies, the scheme provided the opportunities and education necessary for more extensive veterinary interventions in cattle breeding. I show how its operation transformed understandings of fertility, raised veterinarians to the status of experts, won them the patronage of farmers and the state, and facilitated the shift to a productivity-oriented agriculture.

The work of the Animal Research Station, Cambridge.

This paper traces the history of the Animal Research Station, Cambridge from its establishment in 1932 to its closure in 1986. The author worked there for forty years and was Director from 1979. Originally set up as a field station for Cambridge University's School of Agriculture, the Station was expanded after World War II as the Agricultural Research Council's Unit of Animal Reproduction. Beginning with semen and artificial insemination, research at the Station soon embraced superovulation and embryo transfer in farm animals. Many other technologies were also developed here, including IVF in pigs, cloning by nuclear transplantation of early embryonic cells, and the first genetically modified farm animals in Britain. This account recalls the Directors of the Station and their research teams together with details of their pioneering contribution to reproductive biology.

Five decades of progress in management of the infertile couple.

OBJECTIVE: To review milestones in the care of the infertile couple over the past five decades. DATA RESOURCES: All issues of Fertility and Sterility were reviewed beginning with the first issue published in 1950 through volume 61, number 1 (January 1994). Other significant articles from the literature were reviewed as identified by directed Medline searches. RESULTS: This historical review gives the reader a sense of the evolution of modern reproductive technology--how the past has shaped the present--through the development of modern surgical techniques, methods of ovulation induction, laparoscopy, ultrasound, endocrine assays, in vitro fertilization, cryopreservation of sperm and preembryos, and microscopic procedures on gametes and preembryos. CONCLUSIONS: The remarkable capabilities of modern reproductive technologies are only possible because of the culmination of decades of innovative research.

The history of assisted human conception with especial reference to endocrinology.

This review lecture is primarily concerned with the study of assisted human conception and especially in-vitro fertilization (IVF). It also places in perspective the role of endocrinology in history of IVF. A knowledge of the hypothalamic-pituitary control of ovulation, and of ovarian follicle dynamics is assumed. A detailed consideration of these topics, together with extensive references, are available in a recent textbook (Edwards and Brody, 1995). Many of the early pioneers studying animal reproduction combined reproductive physiology and endocrinology, especially Marshall, who analysed oestrous and menstrual cycles in many mammalian species. The clarification of the roles of pituitary gland and hypothalamus in the menstrual cycle and ovulation, and their regulation by steroidal feedbacks from the gonads gave an immense stimulus to studies on human reproduction (Smith and Engle, 1927; Lewis and Gregory, 1933; Harris, 1970). Three periods of research into assisted human conception are covered in this lecture including the initial work on the introduction of the endocrinology and embryology of human IVF, the rapid advances in technique as it expanded worldwide, and finally some of the recent remarkable advances in the field.

Human fertility and differential birth rates in American eugenics and genetics: a brief history.

Eugenics is a broad term used to describe a variety of social and state-sponsored reform movements. Although we usually think of Nazi atrocities when we hear the word "eugenics," in this article I discuss the manifestations of hereditary reform worldwide. In particular, I consider the history of eugenics in America, focusing on concerns about the differences in birth rates between various racial, ethnic, and educational groups. In the early twentieth century, the social and cultural expectations that surrounded the growing knowledge in genetics implied an ethical imperative for physicians. Physicians were expected to use their knowledge about genetics to help them decide what sort of advice and assistance should be given to those who wanted knowledge about birth control, or help in resolving problems concerning sterility and infertility. Today, with growing knowledge about human genetics, physicians are subject to increasing pressure to make similar judgments.

PIP: Eugenics is a broad term used to describe a range of social and state-sponsored reform movements. The manifestations of hereditary reform worldwide are discussed. In particular, the history of eugenics in the US is reviewed, with focus upon concerns about differences in birth rates between various racial, ethnic, and educational groups. In the early 20th century, the growing body of knowledge in genetics led to an expectation that physicians should use their knowledge about genetics to help them decide what sort of advice and assistance should be given to people who wanted knowledge about birth control or help in resolving problems related to sterility and infertility. As knowledge continues to expand in the field of genetics, physicians are under growing pressure to make similar genetics-based decisions.

Looking back, looking forward: the legacy of the National Advisory Board on Ethics in Reproduction (NABER).

The National Advisory Board on Ethics in Reproduction (NABER) was an independent, private, not-for-profit board created in 1991 by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the American Fertility Society (AFS) to review and comment on ethical issues related to the use of new reproductive technologies. This paper reviews NABER's mission and accomplishments, and attempts to make sense of why this vibrant, important organization closed its doors in 1998.

[History of gynecologic treatment of infertility]. / Zur Geschichte der gynäkologischen Behandlung der Infertilität.

Within less than 20 years this branch of the infertility treatment by new reproductive medical technologies has left behind the original concept of bypassing blocked tubes. It has started to bypass nature. As the extracorporal way, however of shortest duration within the human prenatal development, exposes the human being to external influences, the discussion about the pros and cons of the new technologies is already abundant and still rising. The field named infertility-treatment was once in the middle and in the heart of the gynecologic discipline. It gave rise to the most intellectual branch of gynecology, the gynecologic endocrinology. Undoubtedly, there are tendencies at present to make "Reproductive Medicine" an independent discipline splitting from gynecology and obstetrics, with only the core remaining gynecology, but with the addition of essential constituents coming from genetics, human biology, andrology, medical ethics, even from sociology and law. Gynecology would tremendously suffer from this loss. The field "Reproductive Medicine" has gained the most attentive audience far beyond the scope of our gynecologic profession. One thinks it should have calm and peace to grow further in the same way other fields of medicine flourish, guided by science, concience and compassion. The juxta-medical expansion of the field could as well not have been foreseen one-hundred years ago.

[The evolution of health care in the areas of reproductive and sexual health--Brazil, 20th Century]. / Trajetória assistencial no âmbito da saúde reprodutiva e sexual--Brasil, século XX.

Technical and practical works on the reproduction and sexuality processes conducted in Brazil, in the last century, are the subject of this article. Therefore, authors review the history and emphasize three moments: the first one, until the 1950's, when the basis of public responsibility is defined specially regarding maternity and medical interventions are carried out in order to moralize the sexuality field; second, between the 1950's and 1970's, when the clinical and educative health care is consolidated and directed to women reproductive process and complications on men and women sexual apparatus; third, when broader political bases are built regarding health care, reproduction and sexuality.

[Signs of discovery. (Re-)construction of infertility in the age of reproduction medicine]. / Spuren einer Entdeckung. (Re-)Konstruktionen der Unfruchtbarkeit im Zeitalter der Fortpflanzungsmedizin.

Even though infertility seems to be an old phenomenon, it will be argued that it was discovered in a new way once it became necessary to legitimize the technological possibilities of artificial fertilization at the end of the 1970s. With the birth of the first test-tube baby in 1978 the public became excited about the new possibilities of medical procreation. Reactions were extremely divided because extracorporeal fertilization seemed to undo the difference between natural organisms and technologically created human beings. Today reproductive medicine is an accepted field of gynecology and an increasing number of couples make use of it (even in managing their fertility). This development was the result of the successful integration of reproductive techniques into the discourse of infertility which is by no means self-evident. From the perspective of how societies communicate about reproduction it becomes clear that the dividing line between fertility and infertility is disappearing.

Tales of healthy men: male reproductive bodies in biomedicine from 'Lebensborn' to sperm banks.

Using the example of 'sperm tales', borne out of the biomedical technologies that went hand in hand with the establishment of the 'science of man' (andrology), the article engages with the epistemic evolution of interrelated biomedical theories and concepts of what constitutes a 'healthy' reproductive male body. The article asks: how has the normative ideal male body been either perpetuated or interrogated through these tales of male reproduction at the interface between scientific and medical technologies? And how were changes to the normalization of male bodies central to clinical practices and cultural understandings of health and illness? With many aspects of the medical history of male reproduction in the 20th century still unexplored, this article will focus on the growing intervention of biomedicine to 'treat' male infertility by way of the classification, standardization and normalization of male corporeality, focusing in particular on the representation and construction of men and the male body, as reflected in medical science and practice from the second half of the 20th century onwards in Germany. The article analyses the rise in importance of sperm in biomedical investigation, including a consideration of the construction of infertility as the defining force behind concepts of 'healthy men', and examines the related conceptualization of male reproductive bodies at the crossroad between 'healthy' and 'normal'. It is argued that the ideal of male reproduction as being inherently healthy has lost ground. By the late 20th century, male bodies have become vulnerable, at least as represented in medical science and technology.