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 98 Collections and/or Records:
The concentration of minerals in the blood of genetically diverse groups of sheep. II. Calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, sodium and chlorine concentrations for three hill-breeds and their crosses at pasture., 1969
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1969 - 1970. Volume 6 of 19.
The concentration of minerals in the blood of genetically diverse groups of sheep. III. Correlations among calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, sodium, chlorine and copper concentration, 1969
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1969 - 1970. Volume 6 of 19.
The concentration of minerals in the blood of genetically diverse groups of sheep. IV. Factors influencing seasonal changes in copper concentration, 1970
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1969 - 1970. Volume 6 of 19.
The concentration of minerals in the blood of genetically diverse groups of sheep. V: Concentrations of copper, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium and sodium in the blood of lambs and ewes, 1971
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1971 - 1972. Volume 7 of 19.
The copper content of wool in relation to breed and the concentrations of copper in the liver and plasma, 1983
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1983. Volume 17 of 19.
The effect of breed and of dried seaweed meal in the diet on the levels of copper in liver, kidney and plasma of sheep fed on a high copper diet, 1978
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1978. Volume 12 of 19.
The effect of breed of sire on the accumulation of copper in lambs, with particular reference to copper toxicity, 1982
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1982. Volume 16 of 19.
The effect of breed type and inbreeding on characteristics of the fleece and skin of 12 week old lambs, 1981
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1981. Volume 15 of 19.
The effect of crossbreeding and inbreeding on the performance of three breeds of hill sheep in Scotland, 1982
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1982. Volume 16 of 19.
The effects of breed, breeding system and other factors on lamb mortality. 1. Causes of death and effects on the incidence of losses, 1983
Located in A.B.R.O. Reprints 1983. Volume 17 of 19.
Filtered By
- Type: Archival Object X
Additional filters:
- Subject
- Animal Genetics 94
- Sheep 45
- Blood--Analysis 17
- Animal Breeding 15
- 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 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