Wikipedia

Morris Soller

Morris Moshe Soller (Hebrew: משה מוריס סולר; 1931 – May 2026) was an American-Israeli agricultural geneticist who was a research professor in the Department of Genetics of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was especially interested in livestock- and crop- genetics, including trypanotolerance in cattle.

Morris Soller

Early life and education

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Soller was born in Manhattan, New York City, in 1931.[1][2] At the age of 12 he was first inspired to learn about genetics by reading The Theory of the Gene by Thomas Hunt Morgan.[3][1][4]: ix  While an undergraduate he read Jay Laurence Lush's Animal Breeding Plans and learned much from it[1][3] – and would receive the award named for Lush 50 years later – see below.[3] Soller also learned much from the writings of Ronald Fisher and Sewall Wright during this time.[1] In 1951 he earned a Bachelor's Degree in Agriculture and then in 1956 both a Master's Degree in Applied Statistics and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Animal Breeding from Rutgers University.[2][3][1] He would later return to his birth country for further postdoctoral education at Indiana University and Roosevelt University in biochemistry.[2]

Research and teaching career

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In 1957 he was hired by the Volcani Center as their senior scientist for animal breeding and by Bar-Ilan University as a senior lecturer of Biology and Genetics.[2] He moved his family to Israel where they have lived most of their lives since.[2] Between 1966 and 1972 Soller was a lecturer at Roosevelt University in the USA.[2] In 1972 he returned to Israel to lecture at the Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the Department of Genetics.[2] He would eventually become a full professor and emeritus professor in 2000.[2] He has since continued actively in lecturing and research including sabbaticals as the Cotswold Visiting Scientist at Iowa State University, at the University of Illinois and elsewhere.[2]

Soller was the originator of quantitative trait locus mapping and marker-assisted selection.[2][3] He began noticing the statistical patterns and composing the mathematical tools that would be required for these techniques in 1974, while studying crop genetics and livestock genetics.[2] He went on to collaborate with his students and peers to create the F2,[2] backcrossing,[2] full sib,[2] half sib,[2] granddaughter,[2][3] AIL[2] and selective DNA pooling[2][3] techniques in QTL mapping.[2] Along with other laboratories around the world, his group developed some of the earliest restriction fragment length polymorphism markers for cattle and microsatellite markers for chickens.[3]

He especially become known for using these techniques to analyse trypanotolerance in cattle, especially in the N'Dama breed.[2][1] Soller also applied QTL analysis to dairy traits and Marek's disease.[2][1]

Family

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Soller was the grandfather of AI researcher Eliezer Yudkowsky.[5]

Death

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On 14 May 2026, it was announced that Soller had died.[6][7]

Professional recognition

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Publications

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As of 2012 Soller had authored and coauthored over 170 peer reviewed publications, and many book chapters and encyclopedia articles.[2][3] The organisms he has studied include cattle and chickens, but also extend to plants, viruses, mice, pigs and others.[3]

—Popularly cited including by[10][11][12][13][14]
— An autobiography Soller was invited to write by Annual Reviews

References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Soller, Morris (16 February 2015). "If a Bull Were a Cow, How Much Milk Would He Give?". Annual Review of Animal Biosciences. 3 (1). Annual Reviews: 1–17. doi:10.1146/annurev-animal-022114-110751. ISSN 2165-8102. PMID 25493539. S2CID 46733451.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 "Soller" (PDF). International Society for Animal Genetics (ISAG).
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Khatib, Hasan (28 June 2012). "Foreword". Animal Genetics. 43 (s1). International Foundation for Animal Genetics (Wiley): 1. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2052.2012.02390.x. ISSN 0268-9146. PMID 22742497. S2CID 26400727.
  4. ↑ Womack, James E. (2012). Bovine genomics. Ames, Iowa: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. xi+271. ISBN 978-0-8138-2122-1. OCLC 780445244. ISBN 978-1-118-30173-9.
  5. ↑ Yudkowsky, Eliezer [@ESYudkowsky] (19 May 2026). "A proverb says, "A person dies twice, once when they stop breathing, once when their name is spoken for the last time."" (Tweet). Retrieved 20 May 2026 – via X (formerly Twitter).
  6. ↑ "מוריס משה סולר ז"ל". Haaretz-evel. Retrieved 18 May 2026.
  7. ↑ "פרופ' אמריטוס משה סולר ז"ל". Avelim. 18 May 2026. Retrieved 18 May 2026.
  8. ↑ "Past Honorary Degree Recipients" (PDF). Iowa State University. 2011. pp. 1–120.
  9. ↑ "Honorary Members". International Society for Animal Genetics (ISAG). Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  10. ↑ van der Waaij, Elisabeth Hillechien. Breeding for trypanotolerance in African cattle (phd). Animal Breeding and Genetics Group Wageningen Institute of Animal Sciences. ISBN 90-5808-458-2. S2CID 80958484.
  11. ↑ Kemp, S.J.; Teale, A.J. (1998). "Genetic Basis of Trypanotolerance in Cattle and Mice". Parasitology Today. 14 (11). Elsevier: 450–454. doi:10.1016/s0169-4758(98)01334-9. ISSN 0169-4758. PMID 17040846. S2CID 3253779.
  12. ↑ Darvasi, Ariel (1998). "Experimental strategies for the genetic dissection of complex traits in animal models". Nature Genetics. 18 (1). Nature Portfolio: 19–24. doi:10.1038/ng0198-19. ISSN 1061-4036. PMID 9425894. S2CID 25815459.
  13. ↑ Naessens, J. (2006). "Bovine trypanotolerance: A natural ability to prevent severe anaemia and haemophagocytic syndrome?". International Journal for Parasitology. 36 (5). Australian Society for Parasitology (Elsevier): 521–528. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.384.4142. doi:10.1016/j.ijpara.2006.02.012. ISSN 0020-7519. PMID 16678182. S2CID 11889368.
  14. ↑ d'Ieteren, G.D.M.; Authie, E.; Wissocq, N.; Murray, M. (1 April 1998). "Trypanotolerance, an option for sustainable livestock production in areas at risk from trypanosomosis". Revue Scientifique et Technique de l'OIE. 17 (1). O.I.E (World Organisation for Animal Health): 154–175. doi:10.20506/rst.17.1.1088. hdl:10568/29592. ISSN 0253-1933. PMID 9638808. S2CID 1188831.
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