Background
Theodor Diener was born on February 28, 1921, in Zurich, Switzerland. He was the son of Theodor Emanuel, a postal employee, and Hedwig Rosa (Baumann) Diener, an accountant.
(Theodor Otto Diener is a renowned expert in Plant Virolog...)
Theodor Otto Diener is a renowned expert in Plant Virology, the study of virus- and viroid-infected plants. His many scientific contributions culminated in 1971 with the discovery and characterization of the previously mysterious cause of an infectious potato disease -- generally presumed to be a virus -- as, instead, a short strand of ribonucleic acid devoid of a protein coat. His work generated intense interest in the scientific community because, according to then prevailing thought, such a disease agent was not supposed to exist. Dr. Diener named the novel agent a viroid, and, by now, more than two dozen plant diseases have been identified as being viroid-incited and viroidology has become recognized as a distinct specialty of plant pathology. Here, Diener vividly describes how his unruly childhood, early development of a skeptical mind, and of fiercely independent thinking -- engendered by both familial and extra-familial influences -- have laid the groundwork for his maturing into the type of scientist ideal for attacking difficult, seemingly unsolvable scientific problems. At the same time, Diener provides the reader -- in his uniquely engaging and exciting style -- with many, often surprising, personal insights into various aspects of European culture before and during World War II -- at desperate times, when the very existence of his homeland, Switzerland, was in grave doubt and when, by necessity, periods of study alternated with service in his country's defense forces. In a second volume (in preparation), Dr. Diener will describe his life in the USA; his initial difficulty of obtaining suitable employment in his field, and eventual fulfillment of his wildest dreams, by being able to perform exciting, fundamental biological research and thereby to contribute to last century's amazing revolution in biology.
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Theodor Diener was born on February 28, 1921, in Zurich, Switzerland. He was the son of Theodor Emanuel, a postal employee, and Hedwig Rosa (Baumann) Diener, an accountant.
Diener entered the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich with the intention of studying science. He was awarded a diploma in natural sciences—equivalent to a master’s degree—by that institution in 1946. Two years later, he earned a doctoral degree in biology. During that time, Diener first came under the influence of Ernst Gaumann, a pioneer in the emerging specialty of plant pathology.
During his last three years of college, Diener gained valuable experience as a research assistant in the botany department.
Diener first took a post of a plant pathologist at the Swiss Federal Experimental Station in Waedenswil. Then in 1950 he came to the United States to accept a short-term position as an assistant professor at the University of Rhode Island. The same year he moved on to Washington State University, where he worked at the Irrigation Experiment Station in Prosser for a decade. Diener became an American citizen in 1955. Finally, in 1959, he began what proved to be a long and highly productive career in experimental plant pathology for the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Beltsville, Maryland. This association lasted even beyond Diener’s formal retirement in 1988; he continues to collaborate with USDA scientists in ongoing investigations.
In 1988 Diener moved to the University of Maryland, where he soon assumed concurrent posts as distinguished professor in the department of botany and acting director at the Center for Agricultural Biotechnology.
It was not until Diener was fifty years old that he made his greatest contribution to science. At the time, he was studying spindle tuber disease in potatoes, an infection that causes the tubers to grow gnarled, elongated, and cracked. While it was known that the disease spread easily from plant to plant, no bacteria or other microorganisms were consistently associated with it, and attempts to isolate a viral cause had also ended in failure. Yet Diener noted that infected tissues did contain very small molecules of an unusual form of RNA, or genetic ribonucleic acid. Healthy plants of the same species did not exhibit these molecules, but if they were introduced, the plants soon developed symptoms.
In 1971 he coined the term viroids for this novel class of plant pathogens. In later work Diener further explored the nature and role of viroids. Before their physical and chemical properties could be studied, however, it was necessary to separate viroids from the nucleic acids of cells they infected. The low concentration of viroid RNA, as compared with host RNA, made this challenging. But using the leaves of tomato plants Diener and his colleagues eventually developed new separation and purification techniques for the purpose. Once purified viroid preparations were available, it became possible to study the molecule’s structure. Scientists elsewhere soon identified two viroid forms: long, threadlike molecules and circular ones. Diener and his associates were able to show that both types are infectious and present in diseased plants.
Viroids have thus far been found only in higher plants, including potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, avocados, coconuts, and chrysanthemums. But Diener reasoned that they might also be responsible for some diseases in human beings and other animals for which no other cause had been identified. Among the most promising candidates seemed to be a group of degenerative brain diseases including kuru and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in man and scrapie in sheep and goats.
Although these conditions were commonly attributed to slow viruses, no causative agent had yet been found. Furthermore, the pathogens apparently had several characteristics, such as extreme insensitivity to ultraviolet rays, that are either unknown or unusual in conventional viruses. Diener’s 1972 proposal that viroids might be involved prompted a flurry of activity in labs around the world. Diener himself ultimately rejected this hypothesis after it was demonstrated that the responsible pathogens, unlike viroids, contained protein. Nevertheless, his suggestion had opened other avenues of important research, including work on small protein particles called prions. In addition, a viroidlike RNA has since been discovered that is a component of hepatitis delta virus, which does infect humans. Diener has participated in a number of conferences on this topic.
Diener discovered a novel agent in plant and named it viroid.
For his contribution he received the Campbell Award of the American Institute of Biological Sciences in 1968, the Ruth Allen Award of the American Phytopathological Society in 1976, and the Wolf Award in Agriculture in 1987.
Theodor has been honored on several occasions, including induction into that organization’s Science Hall of Fame in 1988.
(Theodor Otto Diener is a renowned expert in Plant Virolog...)
Diener is a member of New York Academy of Sciences, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, German Academy of Natural Scientists, Leopoldina.
Diener has been elected a fellow or member of such organizations as the New York Academy of Sciences, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the German Academy of Natural Scientists, Leopoldina.
Quotes from others about the person
“I still vividly remember the animated conversations we had relating to the similarity of the sciences and the arts as different expressions of the human spirit.” - Linda Wasmer Smith
Diener’s first marriage in 1950 to Shirley Baumann produced three sons: Theodor, Robert, and Michael. That union ended in divorce in 1966, and Diener was married to Sybil Mary Fox on May 11, 1968, in Winchester, Virginia. The pair make their home in Beltsville, Maryland, the site of Diener’s greatest scientific triumphs.
