Sir Ian Wilmut (7 July 1944 – 10 September 2023) was a British embryologist and the chair of the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine[4] at the University of Edinburgh.

[9] He, Keith Campbell and Shinya Yamanaka jointly received the 2008 Shaw Prize for Medicine and Life Sciences for their work on cell differentiation in mammals.

[15] The following year Wilmut joined Polge's laboratory to undertake a Doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of Cambridge, from where he graduated in 1971 with a thesis on semen cryopreservation.

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.

Wilmut was an Emeritus Professor at the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine[25] at the University of Edinburgh and in 2008 was knighted in the New Year Honours for services to science.

[30] Wilmut was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1999 Birthday Honours "for services to Embryo Development"[17][31] and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2002.