While this world eagerly awaits the ideal contraceptive technique that could efficiently, safely, and esthetically save this planet from the starvation and squalor of over­ crowding and offer women control over their reproductive capacity, the individual faced with the frustration, even des­ peration, induced by infertility begs for help in achieving the desired conception. The discipline of gynecology and obstetrics, recogniz­ ing the importance of these problems and the need for spe­ cial expertise in reproductive endocrinology and its atten­ dant clinical challenges in fertility and infertility, has now formalized the training of specialists in this area of scientific knowledge in a further effort to advance the skills of diag­ nosis and treatment attendant on these complex problems. Slowly but steadily, as befits the complexity of the endocrine and metabolic pathways involved, the scientific basis of reproductive physiology has been revealed by the research of physicians, biochemists, and physiologists. It is clear that no significant clinical advance can be made with­ out the foundation of such new knowledge. Indeed, the successful treatment of infertility resulting from failure of ovulation was based on just such a scientific advance.