‘Godfather’ of cloning whose work paved the way in which for Dolly the Sheep many years after he flunked biology class at Eton and was informed goals of turning into a scientist had been ‘ridiculous’ dies aged 92

He was told by his teacher at Eton that his dreams of being a scientist were ‘quite ridiculous’ after failing abysmally in biology class. 

But rather than whither in the face of the put-down, Sir John Gurdon, who died on Tuesday aged 92, used it as fuel.

After studying zoology at Oxford, his discovery that all body cells have the same genes led to the cloning of Dolly the Sheep in 1996.

Working as a young researcher in 1962, he took the genetic material from a cell lining a frog’s gut, put it in an empty egg and watched as a tadpole developed.

The experiment marked the first time an animal had been cloned.

Dubbed the ‘Godfather’ of cloning, he went on to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2012 for the groundbreaking discovery. 

Scientist Sir John Gurdon has died aged 92. He was dubbed the ‘Godfather’ of cloning 

After studying zoology at Oxford, his discovery that all body cells have the same genes led to the cloning of Dolly the Sheep in 1996

Sir John, who became master of Magdalene College at Cambridge University, continued working into his tenth decade.    

Reacting to news of his death, Professor Jon Simons, head of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Cambridge, said: ‘Sir John Gurdon was, and will continue to be, one of the most inspirational scientists in our community, and in the world. 

‘As well as outstanding contributions to developmental biology, John was also a dedicated colleague and mentor, who was deeply committed to interdisciplinary collaboration. He will be greatly missed.’

Born in the village of Frensham on the Surrey-Hampshire border in 1933, Sir John was sent to study at Eton after initially enrolling at two local private schools.

But the budding young science enthusiast proved unable to turn his obsession with caterpillars into success academically.

In his 1949 school report, his biology master- a museum curator who had been drafted in to teach after the war – was withering.

He went on to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2012 for the groundbreaking discovery. Above: Receiving the award from King Carl Gustaf in Sweden

He wrote: ‘I believe he has ideas about becoming a scientist. On his present showing this is quite ridiculous; if he can’t learn simple biological facts he would have no chance of doing the work of a specialist, and it would be a sheer waste of time, both on his part and those who have to teach him.’

In one test, Sir John got two marks out of a possible 50, the lowest marks out of all 250 boys in his year.

However, thanks to family connections Sir John got into Oxford, initially to study classics.

But because his admissions tutor, the esteemed historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, had accidentally let in too many students for the course, Sir John had to change.

First, he studied on a biology crammer course paid for by his parents. And then he went back to Oxford. 

His cloning of a frog in 1962 marked the first proof that an adult cell still contained all the genetic information needed to develop all the parts of the body.

Derived from the mammary gland of a six-year-old Dorset Finn ewe, Dolly was named after the country singer Dolly Parton

Until that point, it had been believed that once a cell becomes a certain type, such as a skin cell, it lost the instructions needed to turn into a piece of heart, or brain or kidney. 

The scientist’s finding paved the way for modern stem cell science, in particular the notion that a skin cell can be used to repair damaged, dying and worn-out body parts. 

Other scientists did not accept the finding for another ten years.

In 1996, Sir John’s method was used by scientists at the University of Edinburgh to clone a sheep named Dolly.

The achievement marked the first time a mammal had been cloned from an adult cell.

But it also provoked a fierce ethical and religious debate about ‘playing God’ and the prospect of human cloning.

Derived from the mammary gland of a six-year-old Dorset Finn ewe, Dolly was named after the country singer Dolly Parton.

The sheep died in 2003.  

Sir John, who was knighted in 1995, went on to frame his Eton teacher’s report and hang it in his office. 

He founded the Wellcome/CRUK Institute for Cell Biology and Cancer at Cambridge in 1991