Sir Ian Wilmut, the scientist who led the team that created Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell, has died at the age of 79. The announcement was made by the University of Edinburgh, where Wilmut conducted his groundbreaking work at the Roslin Institute.
Dolly was born on 5 July 1996, and the news of her creation was first published in the Observer in February 1997, sparking a media frenzy and global debate about the ethics of cloning. Wilmut described human cloning as 'repugnant' and emphasised that the breakthrough was aimed at studying genetic diseases.
Professor Sir Peter Mathieson, principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, called Wilmut 'a titan of the scientific world', adding that his experiment 'transformed scientific thinking at the time'. Wilmut's earlier work included helping to create Frostie, the first calf born from a frozen embryo, in 1973.
After Dolly's death in 2003, her body was donated to the National Museum of Scotland, where she remains on display. Wilmut was knighted in 2008 for services to science and retired in 2012. He revealed in 2018 that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
