"Because the first intrauterine contraceptive device proposed by Dr Richard Richter in 1909 was ignored, the Silver Ring of Dr Ernst Gräfenberg (1928) is currently labeled as the prototype of modern IUD generations. The Ring of Gräfenberg, however, was proscribed in the 1930s, and, although the basis for the condemnation was more political than scientific, three decades had passed before the rebirth and general acceptance of intrauterine contraception. The development of the plastic IUDs, announced by Dr Lazar Margulies and Dr Jack Lippes in 1960-61, solved the insertion problem of metallic IUDs, but did not eliminate the main side-effects, that is, bleeding and pain. In 1969, the first copper-bearing device was introduced by Dr Jaime Zipper and Dr Howard Tatum. The metallic contraceptive adjuvant, though allowing reduction of the platform size, did not solve the menorrhagia problem. This was achieved by Dr Tapani Luukkainen thanks to the invention of the gestagen- releasing IUD (Ng Nova-T) in 1977. The final step in IUD engineering was the invention of the GyneFix, a flexible, frameless copper-bearing IUD anchored permanently to the uterine tissues, which the inventor (Dr Dirk Wildemeersch) calls an intrauterine contraceptive implant or IUCI."