British physiologist Robert Edwards, whose work led to the first "test-tube baby", won the 2010 Nobel prize for medicine.
Edwards, 85, developed in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) with his late colleague, Patrick Steptoe, gynaecologist.
As many as four million babies have been born since the first IVF baby in 1978 as a result of the techniques they developed, Sweden's Karolinska Institute said.
The institute lauded Professor Edwards for bringing joy and hope to the more than 10% of couples worldwide who suffer from infertility.
Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe pursued their work despite opposition from churches, governments, many in the media and scepticism from scientific colleagues.
They struggled to raise funds and had to rely on private donations but in 1968 they developed methods to fertilise human eggs outside the body.
Working at Cambridge University, they began replacing embryos into infertile mothers in 1972. But several pregnancies spontaneously aborted due to what they later discovered were flawed hormone treatments.
In 1977, they tried a new procedure which did not involve hormone treatments and relied instead on precise timing. On July 25 of the next year, Louise Brown, the first IVF baby, was born.
"We hold Bob in great affection and are delighted to send our personal congratulations to him and his family at this time," she said in a statement released with her mother.
The 32-year-old, who has stayed in touch with Edwards all her life, is married and has one son who was conceived naturally.
In 1980, Professor Edwards and Patrick Steptoe founded the Bourn Hall Clinic at Cambridge, the world's first IVF clinic, where gynaecologists and cell biologists around the world have trained.
Vatican criticises award
A Vatican official says the award is completely out of order and ignored the ethical questions raised by the fertility treatment.
Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, head of the Pontifical Academy for Life, says IVF had led to the destruction of large numbers of human embryos.
