3rd century AD
Records show that Jewish thinkers discussing possibility of accidental or unintentional human insemination by artificial means.

14th century AD
Accounts of Arab peoples using artificial insemination on horses.

1777
Italian priest began experiments with artificial insemination of reptiles.

1785
First attempts at human artificial insemination by John Hunter - a baby is born the same year.

1890
Robert Dickinson begins experimenting with donor sperm, although his work is carried out in secret because of the condemnation of the Church.

1945
Early reports of donor insemination published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

1955
Four successful pregnancies using previously frozen sperm.

1960s
Big increase in knowledge of ovarian stimulants, how eggs mature, ovulation, fertilisation and the growth of the embryo in vitro, safer and better laparoscopy.

1969
Human fertilisation in vitro is achieved for the first time.

1977
First IVF pregnancy - but it is ectopic.

1978
Birth of Louise Brown, the first 'test tube' baby born as a result of IVF.

1980
Two Australian teams succeed in IVF deliveries after drug-induced superovulation in the mother.

1988/9
GIFT introduced and the first successful pregnancies achieved.

1990
Human Fertility and Embryology Act in the UK and the setting up of the Human Fertility and Embryology Authority.

1992
Rosanna della Corte gives birth to a son, Riccardo, at the age of 62 after IVF treatment by Severino Antinori. First pregnancy as a result of ICSI.

1997
The birth of Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal

2000
The culture of embryonic stem cells, some from 'spare' embryos donated by couples who have had successful IVF treatment, opens the way to 'made-to-order' tissue for transplant surgery.

2001
Teams in the US and Italy announce that they are working on producing the first human clone.

2002
Severino Antinori, best known for his work in enabling post-menopausal women to have babies, claims that three human cloned pregnancies are taking place, two in Russia and one in 'an Islamic country'.

2004
A controversial US fertility specialist who says he has implanted a cloned embryo into a woman's womb has been condemned as "irresponsible" by scientists. Dr Panos Zavos gave few details and no evidence, and said it was still too early to tell if the procedure had resulted in pregnancy

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