The Roslin Institute first reported their breakthrough cloning results in Nature (February 27, 1997; volume 385, part 6619, pages 810-813--discussed in the March 7, 1997 Scout Report), presenting possibilities for pharmaceutical purposes in addition to research opportunities. The cloned lamb, Dolly, was created using nuclear transfer technology.

This site covers one of the top ten scientific breakthroughs of 1997, compiled in the December 19, 1997 issue of Science. The top scientific breakthrough of 1997 was the cloning of a sheep, resulting in a lamb named Dolly. The nine runners up were: the Pathfinder mission to Mars, synchrotrons, biological clock genes, gamma ray bursts, Neandertal DNA, nanotubes, Europa's ocean, whole genome sequencing, and neurons.