Biology
Ian Wilmut
Embryologist who led the team that cloned Dolly the sheep
Born 1944 · Died 2023
«There was a slight feeling of sort of awe, if you like, at the potential impact.»
Ian Wilmut led the team that cloned Dolly the sheep from an adult cell in 1996, proving that a specialised cell could be reset to build a whole animal. The result upended a basic assumption of biology and opened the field of stem cell reprogramming.
Key achievements
- Led the team that cloned Dolly the sheep, 1996
- Proved an adult cell can be reset to build a whole animal
Universities
Edinburgh, Scotland
Led the Roslin Institute team that created Dolly in 1996 and later became professor at the university's regenerative medicine centre.
Facts
- Dolly was named after the singer Dolly Parton because she was cloned from a mammary gland cell.
- It took 277 attempts to produce one viable lamb.
- He announced in 2018 that he had Parkinson's disease and volunteered for a research programme at his own university.