Diter von Wettstein
Diter H. von Wettstein (born September 20, 1929 in Göttingen ; † April 13, 2017 ) was a Danish biologist and geneticist ( plant breeding and plant genetics).
Life
Diter von Wettstein was the son of Fritz von Wettstein and Elsa Jesser and went to school in Innsbruck. He studied biology and biochemistry at the University of Tübingen , where he received his doctorate in 1953. From 1951 to 1954 he was at the Institute for Genetics of the Forest Science Institute in Stockholm. In Sweden he was a student of Åke Gustafsson and Arne Müntzing (whose textbook on genetics he translated into German). In 1953 he obtained his licentiate in genetics from Stockholm University , where he received his doctorate again in 1957 and became an assistant professor. In 1958 he was a Rockefeller Fellow in the USA (Caltech, Stanford, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory , Carnegie Institution Washington DC). 1962 to 1975 he was professor and director of the Institute of Genetics at the University of Copenhagen . From 1975 to 1988 he was director of Carlsberg Plant Breeding and from 1972 to 1996 professor at the Carlsberg Laboratory in Copenhagen, where he headed the Physiology Department. From 1996 he was RA Nilan Distinguished Professor at Washington State University .
He had been married to Penny von Wettstein-Knowles since 1967 and had two daughters.
plant
He published around 340 papers in genetics, plant breeding, developmental and cell biology, plant biochemistry and molecular biology and supervised 69 doctoral students.
His main research interests were:
- Photosynthetic membrane biosynthesis and chloroplast biogenesis .
- Chromosome pairing, crossing-over mechanism and genome analysis
- Epigenetics of transcription activator-like effectors ( TAL effector , TALE)
- Development of barley that is free from proanthocyanidins (PA) (they interfere with brewing beer). He pursued this particularly at the Carlsberg Laboratories.
- Development of wheat for celiac patients (mutations with TALEs and TILLING )
- Molecular genetics of black cereal rust and herbicide resistance in barley
Honors
In 1969 he was visiting professor at Washington State University and in 1966, 1972 and 1974 at the University of California, Davis. He was also visiting professor in China (North East Normal University in Changchun, University of Wuhan) and from 2007 to 2010 Mercator Professor at the University of Giessen. He was on the advisory board of the Max Planck Institute for Breeding Research in Cologne, that of the Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel, that of the Agricultural University of Wageningen and that of the Institute for Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research in Gatersleben.
In 1995 he received the Gregor Mendel Medal .
He was a foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences and a member of the Leopoldina , the Royal Swedish , the Royal Belgian and Royal Danish Academy of Sciences , the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences , the Academia Europaea , the European Molecular Biology Organization , the Royal Physiographical Society in Lund, the Austrian Academy of Sciences , the Washington State Academy of Sciences and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science .
He was an honorary doctorate from the University of Copenhagen.
Web links
- Literature by and about Diter von Wettstein in the catalog of the German National Library
- Homepage
- www.deutsche-botanische-gesellschaft.de/article/symposium-zum-andenken-an-prof-diter-von-wettstein
Individual evidence
- ^ Member Directory: Diter von Wettstein. National Academy of Sciences , accessed April 27, 2017 .
- ↑ International Who's Who 2004, referred to there as a Danish geneticist
- ^ Member entry by Diter H. von Wettstein at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on October 23, 2015.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wettstein, Diter von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Wettstein, Diter H. von |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Danish geneticist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 20, 1929 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Goettingen |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 13, 2017 |