ASME's Top 40 Best Magazine Covers of the Last 40 Years:

April 30, 1965

The fetus became widely recognized after LIFE published Linnart Nilssons photograph of an 18-week-old fetus inside the womb on its April 30, 1965 cover. Swedish photographer Nilsson used an endoscope with an electronic flash to capture both the cover picture and pictures appearing inside the magazine to chronicle the beginning of human life. These pictures are part of Nilssons book, A Child is Born, which sold eight million copies in the first four days after publication.