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Sir Ian Wilmut (7 July 1944 – 10 September 2023) was an English embryologist and the chair of the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh. He was the leader of the research group that in 1996 first cloned a mammal from an adult somatic cell, a Finnish Dorset lamb named Dolly.
Wilmut was appointed OBE in 1999 for services to embryo development and Knight Bachelor in the 2008 New Year Honours. He, Keith Campbell and Shinya Yamanaka jointly received the 2008 Shaw Prize for Medicine and Life Sciences for their work on cell differentiation in mammals.
In 1966, Wilmut spent eight weeks working in the laboratory of Christopher Polge, who is credited with developing the technique of cryopreservation in 1949. The following year Wilmut joined Polge's laboratory to undertake a Doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of Cambridge, from where he graduated in 1971 with a thesis on semen cryopreservation. During this time he was a postgraduate student at Darwin College.
Wilmut was the leader of the research group that in 1996 first cloned a mammal, a lamb named Dolly. She died of a respiratory disease in 2003. In 2008 Wilmut announced that he would abandon the technique of somatic cell nuclear transfer by which Dolly was created in favour of an alternative technique developed by Shinya Yamanaka. This method has been used in mice to derive Pluripotency stem cells from differentiated adult skin cells, thus circumventing the need to generate embryonic stem cells. Wilmut believed that this method holds greater potential for the treatment of degenerative conditions such as Parkinson's disease and to treat stroke and heart attack patients.
Wilmut led the team that created Dolly, but in 2006 admitted his colleague Keith Campbell deserved "66 per cent" of the invention that made Dolly's birth possible, and that the statement "I did not create Dolly" was accurate. His supervisory role is consistent with the post of principal investigator held by Wilmut at the time of Dolly's creation.
Wilmut was an Emeritus Professor at the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh and in 2008 was Knight Bachelor in the New Year Honours for services to science.
Wilmut and Campbell, in conjunction with Colin Tudge, published The Second Creation in 2000. The Second Creation: Dolly and the age of biological control In 2006 Wilmut's book After Dolly: The Uses and Misuses of Human Cloning was published,After Dolly: The Uses and Misuses of Human Cloning co-authored with Roger Highfield.
Wilmut was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1999 Birthday Honours "for services to Embryo Development" and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2002. -- He was also an elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 1999 and Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2000. He was elected an EMBO Member in 2003. In the same year, he was awarded the Ernst Schering Prize.
In 1997 Wilmut was Time magazine man of the year runner up. He was Knight Bachelor in the 2008 New Year Honours for services to science.
Publications
(2026). 9780747221357, Headline. ISBN 9780747221357
(2026). 9780393060669, Norton. ISBN 9780393060669
External links
Categories: 1944 Births, 2023 Deaths, People From Warwickshire, Alumni Of The University Of Nottingham, Cloning, Members Of The European Molecular Biology Organization, English Atheists, English Inventors, English Geneticists, Academics Of The University Of Edinburgh, Alumni Of Darwin College, Cambridge, Fellows Of The Academy Of Medical Sciences, Fellows Of The Royal Society Of Edinburgh, Knights Bachelor, Officers Of The Order Of The British Empire, Foreign Associates Of The National Academy Of Sciences, British Embryologists, People Educated At Scarborough High School For Boys, Deaths From Parkinson's Disease, British Fellows Of The Royal Society
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