Ovum Humanum was written and compiled by Dr. Landrum Brewer Shettles while he worked as a doctor in New York. The publication contains an atlas of photographs of the human egg cell that Shettles took while working at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. Stechert-Hafner, Inc, a publishing company based in New York City, published the book in 1960. The book presents a collection of color photographs that shows detail of the human egg that had never been seen before, providing a reference for scientists and doctors that documented the anatomy of these cells.

Landrum Brewer Shettles is remembered as an important contributor to early in vitro fertilization research in the United States as well as a prolific author on the subject of choosing a child's sex before conception. Shettles was born in Pontotoc County, Mississippi on 21 November 1909 to Sue Mounce and Brazil Manly. Shettles trained and worked as a gynecologist at Columbia University Presbyterian Medical Center, after receiving his MD in 1943 from Johns Hopkins University. While working at Columbia, Shettles conducted experiments dealing with egg fertilization and in vitro fertilization. From this work, Shettles published Ovum Humanum, a book containing detailed photographs of human eggs in development. Despite professional eccentricities and social ineptitude that, at times, hindered his work with colleagues, Shettles is considered a pioneer of in vitro fertilization technology as well as a major contributor to fertilization and embryonic research.