Dolly the Sheep Born: First Mammal Cloned from Adult
Scientists at Scotland's Roslin Institute took a single mammary cell from a six-year-old Finn Dorset sheep and produced a genetically identical lamb, born on July 5, 1996. They named her Dolly after Dolly Parton, a choice that made headlines almost as much as the science. The breakthrough demolished a foundational assumption in biology: that once a cell specialized, its DNA could never be reprogrammed to create a complete organism. Dolly lived six years before developing lung disease and severe arthritis, raising questions about whether cloned animals age prematurely. Her birth ignited fierce ethical debates about reproductive cloning while simultaneously opening doors to stem cell research, regenerative medicine, and organ transplantation science.
July 5, 1996
30 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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