Sir Ian Wilmut

Expert on Cloning

Ian Wilmut is an English embryologist and is currently one of the leaders of the Queen’s Medical Research Institute at the University of Edinburgh. He is best known as the man who played a supervisory role in the team that in 1996 first cloned a mammal, a Finn Dorset lamb named "Dolly".

"Dr Wilmut offers his audiences an insight into a future that only a short while ago was considered science-fiction."

Topics

After Dolly: The Uses and Misuses of Human Cloning
Cloning and the Question of Ethics
Pharmacology's Brave New World
Will Cloning Feed the Planet?
Dolly's Story

Languages

He presents in English.

How he presents

Engaging and eye-opening, Dr Wilmut’s stimulating presentations shatter pre-conceived ideas and open up audiences’ minds to a world of new scientific possibilities in the near future.

Publications

2007
After Dolly: The Promise and Perils of Cloning
2006
After Dolly: The Uses and Misuses of Human Cloning by the Scientists Who Cloned Dolly
2000
The Second Creation: Dolly and the Age of Biological Control
2000
The Second Generation: The Age of Biological Control by the Scientists Who Cloned Dolly

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In Detail

In 1971 he received a Ph. D. in animal genetic engineering from Darwin College, University of Cambridge. At Darwin College, Cambridge, Wilmut met researcher Chris Porge who had discovered how to freeze cells in 1949. Wilmut became fascinated with the research. Wilmut was awarded a Ph.D. in 1971; his subsequent research in Cambridge led to the birth of the first calf from a frozen embryo – "Frosty" – in 1973. Dolly was the first clone derived from adult cells. She died early, in 2003, at 6 years old. In 2005, Ian received the licence to clone human embryos for research that may one day help find a cure for motor neuron disease. In 2008 he received the Honour of Knighthood for his services to science.

What he offers you

He tackles the question of cloning ethics in his presentations, whilst outlining the future of research in the field, previewing the incredible progress which will ensue in pharmacology, genetics, husbandry and agriculture. In his lectures, he also explores the future benefits of cloning technology and how it will lead the way to countless new advances in every area of science.