STOCKHOLM - British physiologist Robert Edwards, whose work led to the birth of the first "test-tube baby", won the 2010 Nobel prize for medicine or physiology, the prize-awarding institute said on Monday.

Sweden's Karolinska Institute lauded Edwards, 85, for bringing joy to people all over the world who had been unable to conceive.

Known as the father of in-vitro fertilization (IVF), Edwards was awarded the prize of 10 million Swedish crowns ($1.5 million) for a "milestone in the development of modern medicine", the institute said.