From stealing fire to cellular reprogramming: a scientific history leading to the 2012 Nobel Prize

Cellular reprogramming was recently "crowned" with the award of the Nobel Prize to two of its groundbreaking researchers, Sir John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka. The recent link between reprogramming and stem cells makes this appear almost a new field of research, but its historical roots have actually spanned more than a century. Here, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012 is placed in its historical context.