Her father was Sir Ralph Fowler FRS (1889–1944; Milne, 1945), who was Plummer Professor of Mathematical Physics in Cambridge from 1932 to 1944.
They studied there a year before returning to the U.K.[1] They married in 1956 and went on to have 5 daughters: Caroline, Jenny, Sarah, and twins Anna and Meg.
Fowler later worked on the effects of progesterone and oestrogen on pregnancy and embryonic mortality in the mouse; the differences in ovarian output between natural conditions and superovulation; growth and genetics of the early human embryo developing in culture; uterine fluid composition and embryo implantation in the rabbit; steroidogenesis in human granulosa cells and follicular growth; glycoprotein composition and cell-to-cell interactions in the cumulus-oocyte complex.
In 2014, Fishel described her contributions in her obituary: She was a remarkable woman who had that rare capacity to juggle three, indeed four, of the most difficult and all too often competing roles in our complex lives: successful mother, wife and scientist whose highly significant work spanned more than three decades.
And for that “elite fourth” role, provided sustenance at both the intellectual and family level to a great, Nobel Laureate husband!” It was fitting therefore that when Edwards was too ill to receive the Nobel Prize in person, these words were spoken, “In the absence of this year's Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, I ask Professor Edwards' wife and long-term scientific companion, Dr. Ruth Fowler Edwards, to come forward and receive his Prize from the hands of His Majesty the King.[1][2]Dr.