Dr. Raymond Bunge in 1957. — via the University of Wisconsin-Madison ArchivesIn the mid-1970s, as his retirement from the University of Iowa College of Medicine approached, Dr. Raymond Bunge recalled how some people reacted to the biggest scientific breakthrough of his career.“I received many letters, some of them signed, asserting that I was a scientific monster, un-Christian, and a disgrace to medicine,” Bunge, a physician and professor of urology, told the Daily Iowan.#placement_726461_0_i{width:100%;margin:0 auto;}
Bunge’s monstrous accomplishment came in 1953, when he collaborated with UI grad student Jerome Sherman on a new method of freezing and thawing human semen, and in the process created the world’s first sperm bank.@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-1{min-height: 100px;}}
Stay in the know: Sign up to our free newsletter to get the latest news delivered straight to your inbox.
Scientists had been attempting to preserve sperm by freezing for almost 100 years by the time Sherman and Bunge started their work. There had been some success in extending the viability of animal sperm by refrigerating semen collected for artificial insemination — in the 1930s, it became common to funnel the semen into thermoses that were then packed in ice — but the sperm remained viable only very briefly.While farmers were busy breeding better cows, bigger pigs and faster horses by the thermosful, medical professionals were paying increasing attention to the problem of human infertility. There had been scattered attempts to overcome infertility by using artificial insemination dating back to the late 18th century, but the first professional association of doctors and researchers focused on infertility wasn’t formed until 1944.In 1952, the UI College of Medicine opened an infertility clinic, where patients could receive artificial insemination, among other treatments, to help them have children. Dr. Bunge, then an associate professor, was the staff urologist. At that same time, a recently arrived grad student began working for the urology department.Jerome Sherman grew up in Brooklyn, and earned his undergraduate degree at Brown University, a master’s at Case Western, before coming to UI to work on his Ph.D. in zoology. Then, as now, grad students lived on little money, so he took a job in the urology department preparing tissue samples to be frozen for later study.@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-2{min-height: 100px;}}
As he was reading up on tissue sample freezing, Sherman came across the story of Frostie the calf in a U.K. scientific journal. Frostie’s mother had been inseminated with sperm frozen and thawed using a new method that added glycerol to a semen sample. (Glycerol is a sugar-based alcohol found naturally in cells and unnaturally in automotive antifreeze.) Sherman wondered if the process would work on humans.“Enthused by the possibilities and the challenge, Sherman began to experiment with his own sperm after hours, testing freezing protocols in search of a technique that would maximize the percentage of viable sperm after thawing,” Kara W. Swanson wrote in her 2013 monograph, The Birth of the Sperm Bank.Bunge and Sherman had encountered each other around the UI Urology Department, but never really talked until Sherman did some outside work for the doctor.“Bunge hired Sherman … to paint his house,” Swanson wrote. “When Sherman shared his excitement about his after-hours experiments with Bunge, the senior faculty member was intrigued.”@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-3{min-height: 100px;}}
Sperm cells under a microscope. — Ajay Kumar ChaurasiyaSherman did most of the work in determining the correct glycerol-to-semen ratio for optimal freezing. But just because thawed spermatozoa wriggle vigorously on a microscope slide, it doesn’t mean they are viable. To determine if this new method really worked for humans, it was necessary to find some humans to try it.Working with his colleagues at the infertility clinic, Bunge found three willing couples who were infertile and already married. That last qualification was very important, given ’50s moral standards. In the spring of 1953, all three women underwent artificial insemination using frozen-then-thawed sperm from their lawfully wed spouses. All three became pregnant.The question then became how to share the news. Sherman, Bunge and their colleagues understood that many people considered artificial insemination immoral (thwarting God’s will, etc.). Sherman and Bunge co-authored a short, restrained article on their breakthrough that was published in a scientific journal in October 1953. A New York Times reporter noticed, and wrote an even shorter, more restrained story on the journal article. That’s when the hate mail started.Some of the hate came from a member of the Iowa Legislature, who denounced the scientists for creating “a pagan device,” as Sherman later recalled. (Calling the process a “device” showed the lawmaker didn’t understand what he was condemning, which is still standard practice among Iowa legislators.)@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-4{min-height: 100px;}}
After all three babies were delivered, another short, restrained scientific article was written. The Gazette, on the other hand, felt no need for restraint when it broke the news of the births to the general public on April 4, 1954.The front page of the Gazette, April 4, 1954.“Fatherhood After Death Has Now Been Proved Possible,” the banner headline blared, even though no one involved had brought up posthumous parenting.“The history-making birth of the first normal babies resulting from conception by means of stored frozen semen has taken place, according to an informed source here,” the story began. That “normal” was unnecessary, since these were no other types of babies born after defrosting, but it was still probably reassuring to readers.Later in the story, the Gazette reported, “there is a laboratory at the university for collection of semen from childless fathers. There exists a bank for storage of this semen, following the method discovered by Dr. Sherman, for cases in which the use of the semen is warranted.”Leaving aside whether one can be a childless father, the fact that Sherman hadn’t received his Ph.D. yet and whatever was meant by “is warranted,” the Gazette did get one thing right. The first sperm bank was open for business.@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-5{min-height: 100px;}}
Bunge was promoted to full professor and remained at UI for the rest of his career, retiring in 1976. He died in 1999.Sherman left UI almost immediately. He had a long and distinguished career as a professor at the University of Arkansas Medical School. He helped found the Society for Cryobiology and the American Association of Tissue Banks.Sherman was, by all accounts, a much beloved figure in Little Rock, affectionately known to generations of students as “Spermin’ Sherman.” He died in 2023.This article was originally published in Little Village’s December 2024 issue.@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-6{min-height: 100px;}}
To suggest an update, email [email protected] you’re a fan, become a supporterAs an independent publication, we rely on contributions from readers like you to fund our journalism.
.wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles article .entry-title{font-size: 1.2em;}.wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles .entry-meta{display: flex;flex-wrap: wrap;align-items: center;margin-top: 0.5em;}.wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles article .entry-meta{font-size: 0.8em;}.wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles article .avatar{height: 25px;width: 25px;}.wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles .post-thumbnail{margin: 0;margin-bottom: 0.25em;}.wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles .post-thumbnail img{height: auto;width: 100%;}.wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles .post-thumbnail figcaption{margin-bottom: 0.5em;}.wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles p{margin: 0.5em 0;}
