The history of in vitro fertilisation goes back more than half a century. In 1959 the first birth in a nonhuman mammal resulting from IVF occurred, and in 1978 the world's first baby conceived by IVF was born. As medicine advanced IVF was transformed from natural research to a stimulated clinical treatment. There has been many refinements in the IVF process, and today millions of births have occurred with the help of IVF all over the world.