Wiener, Gerald, 1926-2023 (geneticist; former deputy director of the Animal Breeding Research Organisation)
Dates
- Existence: 1926 - 2023
Biography
Gerald Wiener was born in Germany 1926. At aged 12, he arrived in the UK as part of the Kindertransport as a refugee from Nazi-occupied Germany. After attending school in Oxford, Wiener worked on farms for a couple of years before beginning a degree in Agriculture in 1944 at the University of Edinburgh.
In 1947, following his degree, Wiener joined the staff of the newly-formed National Animal Breeding Genetics and Research Organisation (NABGRO, later ABRO). He was the first junior to be appointed to the scientific staff at the headquarters,which was then based at house called 'Glenbourne', about a mile outside the city. Wiener's early years at NABGRO were spent in operational research, which was later submitted for a PhD. He began to undertake research into causes of variation (genetic, maternal, and environmental) in performance of cattle but in much greater detail with long-term experiments in sheep. This led to the significant discovery that the absorption of copper (an essential trace element) from the gut was in part genetically controlled. This research stretched over more than ten years and the discovery received much scientific interest and attention, as well as providing the basis for Wiener's degree of DSc and his election to the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Following his retirement Wiener undertook a variety of consultancies for the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and the British Council, most notably in Ethiopia, India and China. In 1988, he became involved in a collaborative project in north-western China on the yak, work which continues to this day. Wiener is the senior author on The Yak, a standard textbook on the animal.
Wiener is honorary Professor of two Chinese Universities, a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and of the Society of Biology, and an honorary member of the British Society of Animal Science whose scientific Journal he edited for 25 years.
Wiener has published two textbooks, chapters in others, and over a hundred papers in scientific journals.
Gerald Wiener died peacefully at home on Thursday 28th September 2023.
Found in 100 Collections and/or Records:
Interview with Gerald Wiener by Clare Button, 16 September 2014
Libido and fertility in rams in relation to plasma copper levels, 7 February 1976
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1976. Volume 10 of 19.
Maternal and genetic influences on follicle and fleece development in Lincoln and Welsh mountain sheep - a study involving egg transfer, October 1965
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1965 - 1966. Volume 4 of 19.
Maternal and lamb breed interactions in the concentration of copper in tissues and plasma of sheep, 1977
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1977. Volume 11 of 19.
Maternal performance in sheep as affected by breed, crossbreeding and other factors, 1975
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1975. Volume 9 of 19.
Miglioramento genetico per la produzione di carne ovina con particolare riferimento all'incrocio industriale, 1975
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1975. Volume 9 of 19.
Migration of pedigree Ayrshire cattle in Great Britain, 1955
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1947-1957. Volume 1 of 19.
Observations on mandibular prognathism, 21 August 1954
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1947-1957. Volume 1 of 19.
On the use of muzzle prints in the diagnosis of monozygosity of cattle twins, 1954
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1947-1957. Volume 1 of 19.
Papers of Gerald Wiener relating to the history and research of the Animal Breeding Research Organisation
Additional filters:
- Type
- Archival Object 98
- Digital Record 1
- Collection 1
- Subject
- Animal Genetics 94
- Sheep 45
- Animal Breeding 17
- Blood--Analysis 17
- Lambs 15
- Cattle 14
- Sheep breeds 14
- Inbreeding 9
- Mortality--Statistics 9
- Cross-Breeding 8
- Domestic animals--Growth 8
- Abnormalities, Animal 7
- Animal feeding 6
- Great Britain 6
- Metabolism 6
- Blood 5
- Copper 5
- Milk Yield 4
- Multiple birth 4
- Nutrition 4
- Teeth 4
- Variation (Biology) 4
- Wool 4
- Animal populations--Estimates 3
- Animal Breeding Research 2
- Animal Experimentation 2
- Animals--Diseases 2
- Biotechnology 2
- Blood groups in animals 2
- Body size 2
- Cold--Physiological effect 2
- Dairy cattle 2
- Developing countries 2
- Environmental Conditions 2
- Heredity 2
- Livestock improvement 2
- Minerals 2
- Reproduction 2
- Seasonal variations 2
- Wool--Growth 2
- Animal Breeds 1
- Animal Migration 1
- Animal diversity 1
- Animal populations--Climatic factors 1
- Animals--Colour 1
- Birth size 1
- Body temperature--Regulation 1
- Body weight 1
- Bulls 1
- Catastrophe theory 1
- Cattle Breeds 1
- Chorionic gonadotropins 1
- Ear--Infections 1
- Edinburgh -- Scotland 1
- Fear in animals 1
- Fertility 1
- Future studies 1
- Genetic disorders 1
- Human Beings 1
- Lactation 1
- Livestock productivity 1
- Livestock--Breeding--Economic aspects 1
- Mammals 1
- Meat industry and trade 1
- Milkfat 1
- Occlusion (Dentistry) 1
- Pregnancy in animals 1
- Rams 1
- Scotland 1
- Semen 1
- Survival 1 + ∧ less