Theodor Otto Diener
Theodor Otto Diener | |
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Diener at the Agricultural Research Service | |
| Born | 28 February 1921 Zurich, Switzerland |
| Died | 28 March 2023 (aged 102) Beltsville, Maryland, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Dr. sc. ETH 1946) |
| Known for | Discovery of viroids |
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| Children | 3 |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Plant pathology |
| Institutions | |
Theodor Otto Diener (28 February 1921 – 28 March 2023) was a Swiss-American plant pathologist who discovered viroids in 1971, recognized by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses as a new order of subviral agents. He discovered that the potato spindle tuber disease is not caused by a virus, unexpectedly, but a short strand of RNA without protein capsid, which he termed viroid. He received the Wolf Prize in Agriculture, the highest in the field.