John Gurdon, Nobel Prize-winning British cloning pioneer, has died

The 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his pioneering work on cloning and regenerative medicine, British scientist John Gurdon, died on Tuesday, October 7, at the age of 92. The Nobel committee awarded him the prize, jointly with Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka , for having discovered "that adult cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent," meaning capable of differentiating to form various types of tissue, or even an entire individual.

Such an award was a small miracle, given that John Gurdon's scientific career had been built against the educational system. At the age of 15, at Eton, he was judged unfit by his biology teacher: "I think ," he said, " that Gurdon has the idea of ​​becoming a scientist. As things stand, it's rather ridiculous (...) . It would be a complete waste of time, both for him and for those charged with his education."

This note, which would haunt him throughout his schooling, initially prevented him from pursuing the scientific career he had dreamed of. John Gurdon had insisted on including it in his biographical note on the Nobel Prize website . The anecdote perfectly illustrated the motto of his father's line (his family tree could be traced back to 1199 in Suffolk): "Virtue flourishes in adversity."

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