View source for John Gurdon

{{Short description|English developmental biologist (1933–2025)}}
{{About other people|the Nobel-winning biologist}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Sir John Gurdon
| honorific_suffix  = {{postnominals|country=GBR|FRS|size=100%}}
| image             = John Gurdon Cambridge 2012.JPG
| caption           = Gurdon in 2012
| birth_name        = John Bertrand Gurdon
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1933|10|2|df=y}}
| birth_place       = [[Dippenhall]], [[Surrey]], England
| death_date        = {{death date and age|2025|10|7|1933|10|2|df=y}}
| death_place       = 
| residence         = 
| citizenship       = British
| nationality       = 
| alma_mater        = [[Eton College]]<br />[[Christ Church, Oxford]] ([[MA (Oxon)|MA]], [[DPhil]])
| thesis_title      = {{nobr|Nuclear transplantation in Xenopus}}{{-}}
| thesis_url        = http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/OXVU1:LSCOP_OX:oxfaleph019587923
| thesis_year       = 1960
| doctoral_advisor  = Michail Fischberg<ref name="godfather"/>
| doctoral_students = [[Douglas A. Melton]]<br />[[Edward M. De Robertis]]
| known_for         = {{hlist|[[Somatic-cell nuclear transfer|Nuclear transfer]]|[[cloning]]}}
| author_abbrev_bot = 
| author_abbrev_zoo = 
| footnotes         = 
| field             = [[Developmental biology]]
| work_institutions = {{ubil|[[University of Oxford]]|[[MRC Laboratory of Molecular&nbsp;Biology]]|[[University of Cambridge]]|[[California Institute of Technology]]}}
| prizes            = {{ubil|[[Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize]] (1977){{cn|date=October 2025}}|[[William Bate Hardy Prize]] (1984){{cn|date=October 2025}}|[[Royal Medal]] (1985){{cn|date=October 2025}}|[[International Prize for Biology]] (1987){{cn|date=October 2025}}|[[Wolf Prize in Medicine]] (1989)|[[Edwin Grant Conklin Medal]] (2001){{cn|date=October 2025}}|[[Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research|Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award]] (2009)|[[Nobel Prize in Physiology or&nbsp;Medicine]] (2012)}}
}}

'''Sir John Bertrand Gurdon''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|DSc|FRS}} (2 October 1933 – 7 October 2025) was a British [[Developmental biology|developmental biologist]], best known for his pioneering research in [[Somatic cell nuclear transfer|nuclear transplantation]]<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Gurdon | first1 = J. B. | author-link = John Gurdon| last2 = Byrne | first2 = J. A. | title = The first half-century of nuclear transplantation | doi = 10.1073/pnas.1337135100 | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume = 100 | issue = 14 | pages = 8048–8052 | year = 2003 | pmid =  12821779| pmc =166179 | bibcode = 2003PNAS..100.8048G | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal 
| last1 = Gurdon | first1 = J. B. 
| author-link = John Gurdon
| doi = 10.1146/annurev.cellbio.22.090805.140144 
| title = From Nuclear Transfer to Nuclear Reprogramming: The Reversal of Cell Differentiation 
| journal = Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology 
| volume = 22 
| pages = 1–22 
| year = 2006 
| pmid = 16704337 
| s2cid = 6185731 
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Gurdon | first1 = J. B. | author-link1 = John Gurdon| last2 = Melton | first2 = D. A. | doi = 10.1126/science.1160810 | title = Nuclear Reprogramming in Cells | journal = Science | volume = 322 | issue = 5909 | pages = 1811–1815 | year = 2008 |pmid =  19095934| bibcode = 2008Sci...322.1811G | doi-access =  }}</ref> and [[cloning]].<ref name="godfather">{{Cite journal 
|last1 = Williams | first1 = R. 
|title = Sir John Gurdon: Godfather of cloning 
|doi = 10.1083/jcb.1812pi 
|journal = The Journal of Cell Biology 
|volume = 181 
|issue = 2 
|pages = 178–179 
|year = 2008 
|pmid = 18426972 
|pmc =2315664 
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal 
|last1 = Kain|first1 = K. 
|title = The birth of cloning: An interview with John Gurdon
|doi = 10.1242/dmm.002014 
|journal = Disease Models and Mechanisms 
|volume = 2 
|issue = 1–2 
|pages = 9–10 
|year = 2009 
|pmid = 19132124 
|pmc =2615171 
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal 
|last1 = Gurdon|first1 = J. 
|author-link = John Gurdon
|title = John Gurdon 
|journal = Current Biology 
|volume = 13 
|issue = 19 
|pages = R759–R760 
|year = 2003 
|pmid = 14521852
|doi = 10.1016/j.cub.2003.09.015 
|bibcode = 2003CBio...13.R759G 
|s2cid = 12271157 
|doi-access = free 
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal 
|last1 = Gurdon|first1 = J. 
| author-link = John Gurdon
| title = Not a total waste of time. An interview with John Gurdon. Interview by James C Smith 
| journal = The International Journal of Developmental Biology 
| volume = 44 
| issue = 1 
| pages = 93–99 
| year = 2000 
| pmid = 10761853
}}</ref> 

Awarded the [[Lasker Award]] in 2009, in 2012, he and [[Shinya Yamanaka]] were jointly awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] for the discovery that mature cells can be converted to [[Stem cell|stem cells]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2012/press.html|publisher=Nobel Media AB|date=8 October 2012|title=The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine – 2012 Press Release}}</ref>

==Early life and career==
Gurdon was born 2 October 1933 in [[Dippenhall]] and grew up in nearby [[Frensham]] in [[Surrey]].<ref name="The Guardian - Obit" /> He attended [[Edinburgh]] prep school before [[Eton College]], where he ranked last out of the 250 boys in his year group at biology, and was in the bottom set in every other science subject.<ref>{{cite web|title= Sir John Gurdon Biography and Interview |website=achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url=   https://www.achievement.org/achiever/sir-john-gurdon/#interview}}</ref> A schoolmaster wrote a report stating, "I believe he has ideas about becoming a scientist; on his present showing this is quite ridiculous."<ref name="nobel">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2012/gurdon-bio.html|title=Sir John B. Gurdon – Biographical|website=nobelprize.org|access-date=2017-06-03}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=Gurdon Institute|title=Gurdon Institute: John Gurdon's 'Journey of a lifetime' lecture, March 2016|date=25 August 2016|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3RuJMTOnE4&t=343|access-date=2017-06-03}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=None of us should ever be written off|url=http://www.thisisdorset.co.uk/written/story-17110921-detail/story.html|work=[[Western Gazette]]|date=18 October 2012|access-date=24 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121130032904/http://www.thisisdorset.co.uk/written/story-17110921-detail/story.html|archive-date=30 November 2012}}</ref> Gurdon explains it is the only document he ever framed; he also told a [[Journalist|reporter]]: "When you have problems like an experiment doesn't work, which often happens, it's nice to remind yourself that perhaps after all you are not so good at this job and the schoolmaster may have been right!"<ref>{{cite news|last=Collins|first=Nick|title=Sir John Gurdon, Nobel Prize winner, was 'too stupid' for science at school|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/9594351/Sir-John-Gurdon-Nobel-Prize-winner-was-too-stupid-for-science-at-school.html|access-date=29 April 2016|newspaper=The Telegraph|location=London|date=8 October 2012}}</ref>

Gurdon went up to [[Christ Church, Oxford]], to read [[classics]] then switched to [[zoology]], graduating as [[Master of Arts (Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin)|MA]]. For his [[Doctor of Philosophy|DPhil]] [[Doctorate|degree]] he studied nuclear transplantation in a frog species of the genus ''[[Xenopus]]'',<ref>{{Cite thesis|title=Nuclear transplantation in Xenopus|date=1960|publisher=Thesis DPhil—University of Oxford|url=http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?vid=OXVU1&search_scope=LSCOP_OX&docId=oxfaleph019587923&fn=permalink}}{{Dead link|date=November 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="gurdonphd">{{cite thesis |degree=DPhil |first=John|last=Gurdon |title=Studies on nucleocytoplasmic relationships during differentiation in vertebrates |publisher=University of Oxford |year=1961 |url=http://www.theses.com|author-link=John Gurdon}}{{subscription required}}</ref> supervised by Dr Michail Fischberg at [[Oxford University]].<ref>[https://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/directory/john-gurdon University of Cambridge {{!}} Department of Zoology]</ref> After pursuing further postdoctoral work at [[Caltech]],<ref name="Rodney Porter">[http://www.bioch.ox.ac.uk/glycob/rodney_porter_lectures/1999/gurdon.html Rodney Porter Lectures: Biography]</ref> he returned to England where his early posts were in the Department of Zoology at the [[University of Oxford]] (1962–71).<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/news/research-and-academia/portrait-of-sir-john-gurdon-unveiled |title=www.chch.ox.ac.uk |access-date=26 April 2023 |archive-date=5 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230705152640/https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/news/research-and-academia/portrait-of-sir-john-gurdon-unveiled }}</ref>

Gurdon spent much of his research career at the [[Medical Research Council (United Kingdom)|MRC]] [[Laboratory of Molecular Biology]] and then in the Department of Zoology, where he started working in 1972.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Laskey |first=Ron |date=2025-10-20 |title=John Gurdon obituary: Biologist who made cloning possible |url=https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q136656171 |journal=Nature |volume=646 |issue=8087 |pages=1053–1053 |doi=10.1038/D41586-025-03418-5}}</ref> He became a professor at the [[Cambridge University|University of Cambridge]] in 1983.<ref name=":0" /> In 1989, he became a founding member of the Wellcome/CRC Institute for Cell Biology and Cancer at Cambridge, which was renamed in his honour in 2004, serving as its chairman until 2001. He served as a [[University council|member]] of the [[Nuffield Council on Bioethics]] 1991–1995, then [[Head of college|Master]] of [[Magdalene College, Cambridge]], from 1995 to 2002.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Gurdon |title=John Gurdon |access-date=8 October 2025 }}</ref>

==Research==
[[File:Xenopus-Nucleocytoplasmic-Hybrid.ogv|thumb|A video from an [[open-access]] article co-authored by Gurdon:<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Narbonne | first1 = P. | last2 = Simpson | first2 = D. E. | last3 = Gurdon | first3 = J. B. | editor1-last = Misteli | editor1-first = Tom | title = Deficient Induction Response in a Xenopus Nucleocytoplasmic Hybrid | doi = 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001197 | journal = PLOS Biology | volume = 9 | issue = 11 | article-number = e1001197 | year = 2011 | pmid =  22131902| pmc =3217020 | doi-access = free }}</ref> [[Animal pole|Animal]] view of different embryos developing in ''[[Xenopus laevis]]'' eggs: a [[diploid]] ''laevis x laevis'' is shown on the top, cleaving and entering [[gastrulation]] about 50 min earlier than [[haploid]] ''[laevis] x laevis'' (middle) and ''[laevis] x [[Xenopus tropicalis|tropicalis]]'' [[cybrid]] (bottom) embryos.]]

===Nuclear transfer===
In 1958, Gurdon, then at the [[University of Oxford]], successfully [[cloning|cloned]] a frog using intact [[cell nucleus|nuclei]] from the somatic cells of a ''[[Xenopus]]'' tadpole.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Gurdon | first1 = J. B. | author-link1 = John Gurdon| last2 = Elsdale | first2 = T. R. | last3 = Fischberg | first3 = M. | doi = 10.1038/182064a0 | title = Sexually Mature Individuals of Xenopus laevis from the Transplantation of Single Somatic Nuclei | journal = Nature | volume = 182 | issue = 4627 | pages = 64–65 | year = 1958 | pmid =  13566187| bibcode = 1958Natur.182...64G | s2cid = 4254765 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal 
| last1 = Gurdon | first1 = J. B. 
| author-link = John Gurdon
| title = The developmental capacity of nuclei taken from intestinal epithelium cells of feeding tadpoles 
| journal = Journal of Embryology and Experimental Morphology 
| volume = 10 
| pages = 622–640 
| year = 1962 
| pmid = 13951335
}}</ref> This work was an important extension of work of [[Robert Briggs (scientist)|Briggs]] and [[Thomas Joseph King|King]] in 1952 on transplanting nuclei from embryonic [[blastula]] cells<ref>{{cite journal| journal=Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A |date=May 1952|volume= 38|pages=455–463| pmid= 16589125|title=Transplantation of Living Nuclei From Blastula Cells into Enucleated Frogs' Eggs|author=Robert Briggs and Thomas J. King| doi=10.1073/pnas.38.5.455| issue=5| pmc=1063586|bibcode=1952PNAS...38..455B|doi-access=free}}</ref> and the successful induction of [[polyploidy]] in the [[stickleback]], ''Gasterosteus aculatus'', in 1956 by [[Har Swarup]] reported in ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]''.<ref>Swarup H. Production of heteroploidy in the three-spined stickle back (Gasterosteus aculeatus L) Nature in 1956;178:1124–1125. doi: 10.1038/1781124a0; http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v178/n4542/abs/1781124a0.html</ref> At that time he could not conclusively show that the transplanted nuclei derived from a fully [[Cellular differentiation|differentiated cell]]. This was finally shown in 1975 by a group working at the [[Basel Institute for Immunology]] in Switzerland.<ref>{{Cite journal 
| doi = 10.1126/science.1198115 
| last1 = Wabl | first1 = M. R. 
| last2 = Brun | first2 = R. B. 
| last3 = Du Pasquier | first3 = L. 
| title = Lymphocytes of the toad Xenopus laevis have the gene set for promoting tadpole development 
| journal = Science 
| volume = 190 
| issue = 4221 
| pages = 1310–1312 
| year = 1975 
| pmid = 1198115
| bibcode = 1975Sci...190.1310W | s2cid = 23153308 }}</ref> They transplanted a nucleus from an antibody-producing lymphocyte (proof that it was fully differentiated) into an enucleated egg and obtained living tadpoles.{{cn|date=October 2025}}

Gurdon's experiments captured the attention of the scientific community as it altered the notion of development and the tools and techniques he developed for nuclear transfer are still used today. The term clone<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Gurdon | first1 = J. B. | author-link1 = John Gurdon| last2 = Colman | first2 = A. | title = The future of cloning | journal = Nature | volume = 402 | issue = 6763 | pages = 743–746 | doi = 10.1038/45429 | year = 1999 | pmid =  10617195| bibcode = 1999Natur.402..743G | s2cid = 4302017 | doi-access = free }}</ref> (from the ancient Greek word ''[[wikt:κλών#Ancient Greek|κλών]]'' (klōn, "twig")) had already been in use since the beginning of the 20th century in reference to plants. In 1963 the British biologist [[J. B. S. Haldane]], in describing Gurdon's results, became one of the first to use the word "clone" in reference to animals.{{cn|date=October 2025}}

===Messenger RNA expression===
Gurdon and colleagues also pioneered the use of ''[[Xenopus]]'' (genus of highly aquatic frog) eggs and oocytes to translate microinjected [[messenger RNA]] molecules,<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Gurdon | first1 = J. B.| author-link1 = John Gurdon | last2 = Lane | first2 = C. D. | last3 = Woodland | first3 = H. R. | last4 = Marbaix | first4 = G. | title = Use of Frog Eggs and Oocytes for the Study of Messenger RNA and its Translation in Living Cells | doi = 10.1038/233177a0 | journal = Nature | volume = 233 | issue = 5316 | pages = 177–182 | year = 1971 | pmid =  4939175| bibcode = 1971Natur.233..177G| s2cid = 4160808}}</ref> a technique which has been widely used to identify the proteins encoded and to study their function.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stephenson |first1=F Anne |date=2012-10-04 |title=Introduction to Thematic Minireview Series on Celebrating the Discovery of the Cysteine Loop Ligand-gated Ion Channel Superfamily |journal=Journal of Biological Chemistry |volume=287 |issue=48 |pages=40205–40206 |publisher=The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc. |doi=10.1074/jbc.R112.424812 |pmid=23038255 |pmc=3504735 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

===Later career===
Gurdon's later research had focused on analysing intercellular signalling factors involved in [[cell differentiation]], and on elucidating the mechanisms involved in [[reprogramming]] the nucleus in transplantation experiments, including the role of histone variants,<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Jullien | first1 = J. | last2 = Astrand | first2 = C. | last3 = Halley-Stott | first3 = R. P. | last4 = Garrett | first4 = N. | last5 = Gurdon | first5 = J. B. | title = Characterization of somatic cell nuclear reprogramming by oocytes in which a linker histone is required for pluripotency gene reactivation | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume = 107 | issue = 12 | pages = 5483–5488 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.1000599107 | year = 2010 | pmid =  20212135| pmc =2851752 | bibcode = 2010PNAS..107.5483J | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Pasque | first1 = V. | last2 = Gillich | first2 = A. | last3 = Garrett | first3 = N. | last4 = Gurdon | first4 = J. B. | title = Histone variant macroH2A confers resistance to nuclear reprogramming | doi = 10.1038/emboj.2011.144 | journal = The EMBO Journal | volume = 30 | issue = 12 | pages = 2373–2387 | year = 2011 | pmid =  21552206| pmc =3116279 }}</ref> and [[DNA methylation|demethylation]] of the transplanted DNA.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Simonsson | first1 = S. | last2 = Gurdon | first2 = J. | author-link2 = John Gurdon| doi = 10.1038/ncb1176 | title = DNA demethylation is necessary for the epigenetic reprogramming of somatic cell nuclei | journal = Nature Cell Biology | volume = 6 | issue = 10 | pages = 984–990 | year = 2004 | pmid =  15448701| s2cid = 23201099 }}</ref>

==Politics and religion==
Gurdon stated that he was politically "middle of the road", and religiously agnostic because "there is no scientific proof either way". During his time as [[Master of Magdalene College|Master of Magdalene]], Gurdon caused some controversy by suggesting that [[Fellow]]s might occasionally be allowed to deliver "an address on anything they would like to talk about" in [[Colleges of the University of Cambridge|college]] [[Church service|chapel service]]s.<ref name="upublish">{{cite web|url=http://www.upublish.info/Article/John-Gurdon-on-ethics--politics--religion--and-anti-theism/775943|title=John Gurdon on ethics, politics, religion, and anti-theism|publisher=upublish.info|author=Johnny Michael|date=11 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130328201638/http://www.upublish.info/Article/John-Gurdon-on-ethics--politics--religion--and-anti-theism/775943|archive-date=28 March 2013}}</ref> In an interview with EWTN.com, Gurdon declared "I'm what you might call liberal-minded. I'm not a Roman Catholic. I'm a Christian, of the Church of England."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=125061|title=Nobel Prize Winner Participates at Vatican Conference|author=Ann Schneible|date=4 December 2013}}</ref>

==Personal life and death==
Gurdon married Jean Elizabeth Margaret Curtis, with whom he had two children. He believed himself to be an "anti-intellectual" and hated to read books. He was a keen skier, hiker, squash and tennis player.<ref name="nobel" />

Gurdon died on 7 October 2025, five days after his 92nd birthday, with professors from the University of Cambridge and the Gurdon Institute paying tribute.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/nobel-laureate-professor-sir-john-gurdon-dies-aged-92 |title=Nobel Laureate Professor Sir John Gurdon dies aged 92 |website=www.cam.ac.uk |publisher=University of Cambridge |access-date=11 October 2025 |language=en |date=7 October 2025}}</ref><ref name="The Guardian - Obit">{{cite news |last1=Ferry |first1=Georgina |title=Sir John Gurdon obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/oct/09/sir-john-gurdon-obituary |access-date=11 October 2025 |work=The Guardian |date=9 October 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Sir John Gurdon, biologist who won the Nobel Prize for work that led to the cloning of Dolly the sheep |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2025/10/08/john-gurdon-nobel-prize-dolly-sheep-died-obituary/ |access-date=8 October 2025 |publisher=The Telegraph |date=8 October 2025}}</ref>

==Honours and awards==
Gurdon was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] (FRS) [[List of Fellows of the Royal Society elected in 1971|in 1971]],<ref>[https://royalsociety.org/people/john-gurdon-11557/ Fellows Directory: Sir John Gurdon FMedSci FRS] - website of the [[Royal Society]]</ref> and [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] in the [[1995 Birthday Honours]] for "services to Developmental Biology".<ref>{{LondonGazette |issue=54066 |date=16 June 1995 |supp=y |page=2}}</ref>

He was elected as member to the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1978,<ref>{{Cite web |title=John Bertrand Gurdon |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/john-bertrand-gurdon |access-date=2022-05-25 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}}</ref> the United States [[National Academy of Sciences]] in 1980,<ref>{{Cite web |title=John B. Gurdon |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/46642.html |access-date=2022-05-25 |website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref> and the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1983, since 2005 he has been an Honorary Member of the [[American Association of Anatomists]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=John+Gurdon&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2022-05-25 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> He became a [[Member of the Academia Europaea]] (MAE) in 1991.<ref>[https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Gurdon_John Member: John Gurdon] - website of the [[Academia Europaea]]</ref>

In 2004, the [[Wellcome Trust]]/[[Cancer Research UK]] Institute for Cell Biology and Cancer was renamed the [[Gurdon Institute]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gurdon.cam.ac.uk/ |title=The Gurdon Institute |access-date=2011-07-26}}</ref> in his honour. He was awarded the 2009 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award and in 2014 delivered the [[Harveian Oration]] at the [[Royal College of Physicians]].<ref>{{cite web|url = http://events.rcplondon.ac.uk/index.aspx?eventtype=Lecture|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100607041242/http://events.rcplondon.ac.uk/index.aspx?eventtype=Lecture|archive-date = 7 June 2010|title = 2014 – Event listing from April onwards|publisher = Royal College of Physicians|access-date = 7 April 2014}}</ref> In 2017, Gurdon received the Golden Plate Award of the [[American Academy of Achievement]].<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url=  https://www.achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/}}</ref> 

Gurdon was awarded as a Honorary Fellow of the [[Cambridge Philosophical Society]] in 2010, of the [[Honorary Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences|Academy of Medical Sciences]] (FMedSci) in 2011,<ref>[https://acmedsci.ac.uk/fellows/fellows-directory/honorary-fellows Honorary Fellows] - website of the [[Academy of Medical Sciences]]</ref> of the [[Anatomical Society]] in 2013, the [[American Association for Cancer Research]] in 2013, the [[Royal College of Physicians]] (Hon FRCP) in 2014, and the [[Royal Society of Biology]] (Hon FRSB) in 2015.<ref>[https://usern.org/members/5c74df42-de93-432f-947e-588ea76496e4 John Gurdon] - website of [[USERN]]</ref>

He received honorary doctorates including [[Degrees of the University of Oxford|Hon DSc (Oxon)]] and [[Doctor of Science|Hon ScD (Cantab)]] as well as many other [[List of academic awards|awards]] and medals.<ref name="Rodney Porter" /> 

In 1989 he was awarded the [[Wolf Prize in Medicine]] "for his introduction of the xenopus oocyte into molecular biology and his demonstration that the nucleus of a differentiated cell and of the egg differ in expression but not in the content of genetic material".<ref>{{cite web |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=<!--Not stated--> |title=John B. Gurdon |url=https://wolffund.org.il/john-b-gurdon/ |website=wolffund.org.il |publisher=Wolf Foundation |access-date=2025-10-07}}</ref>

===Nobel Prize===
In 2012, Gurdon was awarded, jointly with [[Shinya Yamanaka]], the [[Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine]] "for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become [[pluripotent]]".<ref name="NobelPrize">{{cite web | url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2012/ | title=The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012 | publisher=NobelPrize.org | date=8 October 2012 | access-date=8 October 2012}}</ref> His Nobel Lecture was called "The Egg and the Nucleus: A Battle for Supremacy".<ref>{{cite speech |last=Gurdon |first=John |date=2013-06-15 |title=The egg and the nucleus: a battle for supremacy |url=https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.097170 |work=Development |publisher=The Company of Biologists Ltd |access-date=2025-10-09}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|John Gurdon}}
{{wikiquote}}
* {{IMDb name| 5414808}}
* [https://www.sms.cam.ac.uk/media/1119934 Interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 20 August 2008 (video)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120510183628/http://www.worldscibooks.com/medsci/7565.html Wolf Prize in Medicine 1978–2008 edited by John Gurdon (book)] including [http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/suppl/10.1142/7565/suppl_file/7565_chap01.pdf Chapter 1: John B Gurdon (1989)] (pdf, 6 Mb)
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/09/health/research/cloning-and-stem-cell-discoveries-earn-nobel-prize-in-medicine.html Cloning and Stem Cell Discoveries Earn Nobel in Medicine] (''[[New York Times]]'', 8 October 2012)
* {{YouTube|FMVEZaJLNOg|His ("The Egg and the Nucleus: A Battle for Supremacy") and Yamanaka's 2012 Nobel Lectures}} (7 December 2012)
* {{Nobelprize|name=Sir John B. Gurdon}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLBnidXc7Q8w/ Interview with Sir John Gurdon] at [[University of Cambridge]]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-9pSLQW2TsWhat Cloning, Stem Cells, and Cell Replacement with John Gurdon] at [[University of California]]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiS36VjFrcc Sir John Gurdon – Conversations with History Evolution] at [[University of California]]

{{s-start}}
{{s-aca}}
{{succession box
| before = [[David Chilton Phillips|Sir David Chilton Phillips]]
| title = [[Fullerian Professor of Physiology]]
| years = 1985–1991
| after = [[Anne McLaren|Dame Anne McLaren]]
}}
{{succession box
| title = [[Dean (university)|Master]] of [[Magdalene College, Cambridge]]
| before = [[David Calcutt|Sir David Calcutt]]
| after = [[Duncan Robinson (art historian)|Duncan Robinson]]
| years = 1994–2002
}}
{{end}}

{{Copley Medallists 2001–present}}
{{Wolf Prize in Medicine}}
{{Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Laureates 2001–2025}}
{{2012 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Masters of Magdalene College, Cambridge}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gurdon, John Bertrand}}
[[Category:1933 births]]
[[Category:2025 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Surrey]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford]]
[[Category:English Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:20th-century British biologists]]
[[Category:21st-century British biologists]]
[[Category:British developmental biologists]]
[[Category:Fellows of Churchill College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Fullerian Professors of Physiology]]
[[Category:British Anglicans]]
[[Category:British agnostics]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Masters of Magdalene College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Royal Medal winners]]
[[Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Copley Medal]]
[[Category:Wolf Prize in Medicine laureates]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:John Humphrey Plummer Professors]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]
[[Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine]]