16 Facts About Ian Wilmut

Sir Ian Wilmut was a British embryologist and the chair of the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh.

Ian Wilmut 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.

Ian Wilmut was born in Hampton Lucy, Warwickshire, England, on 7 July 1944.

Ian Wilmut's father, Leonard Ian Wilmut, was a mathematics teacher who suffered from diabetes for fifty years, which eventually caused him to become blind.

The younger Ian Wilmut attended the Boys' High School in Scarborough, where his father taught.

In 1966, Ian Wilmut spent eight weeks working in the laboratory of Christopher Polge, who is credited with developing the technique of cryopreservation in 1949.

Ian Wilmut was the leader of the research group that in 1996 first cloned a mammal, a lamb named Dolly.

In 2008 Ian 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.

Ian 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.

Ian 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.

Ian Wilmut was an Emeritus Professor at the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh and in 2008 was knighted in the New Year Honours for services to science.

Ian Wilmut died from complications of Parkinson's disease on 10 September 2023, aged 79.

Ian Wilmut was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1999 Birthday Honours "for services to Embryo Development" and a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2002.

Ian Wilmut was an elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 1999 and Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2000.

In 1997 Ian Wilmut was Time magazine man of the year runner up.

Ian Wilmut was knighted in the 2008 New Year Honours for services to science.