Miriam Friedman Menkin

Miriam Friedman Menkin (8 August 1901 – June 8, 1992), née Miriam Friedman, was an American scientist who was most famous for her in vitro fertilization (IVF) research with John Rock. In February 1944, she became the first person to conceive human life outside of the body. In 1922, Menkin graduated from Cornell University with an undergraduate degree in histology and comparative anatomy. She attended Columbia University for her graduate program and earned a master's degree in genetics only one year after graduating from Cornell. Menkin ended up finishing the Harvard Ph.D. requirements two separate times but did not receive a degree because she could not afford the course fees. They elected to carry out the surgical procedures just before the patient would ovulate, which gave them many suitable ova for the study. Over the course of the study, Menkin followed a fairly steady weekly schedule: find eggs on Tuesday, add sperm on Wednesday, pray on Thursday, and observe the outcome using a microscope on Friday. In the first 6 years of the study, Menkin tried many different strategies but did not achieve IVF. which indicated that a fertilized egg had formed. Menkin neglected to take an immediate photograph of the discovery, and she could not find the egg when she finally went to get a picture. In the years before this, Menkin sought to continue IVF research on her own, but her opportunities were limited and unpaid.

Menkin divorced her husband in 1949. but never received another opportunity to pursue IVF. Menkin died on June 8, 1992, in Boston, Massachusetts.

Select publications

The original report on Rock and Menkin's IVF discovery.

The full report on the IVF discovery that was published 4 years after the original report.

A discussion of why menstruation occurs and how it works. Largely focuses on the role of hormones in the process.

Discusses observations of a fertilized ovum removed in a hysterectomy on its fourteenth day of existence.

Reports the results of an experiment testing the effectiveness of artificial light in regulating the menstrual cycle.

Examines the drug stilbestrol (now known as diethylstilbestrol), which was incorrectly used to lower the risk of pregnancy complications in the mid-19th century. It is now known that the drug increases the risk of breast cancer.