Daniel Zohary

Daniel (Dani) Zohary (24 April 1926 - 16 December 2016) was an Israeli plant geneticist, agronomist, and influential professor at the Hebrew University. Notably, he co-authored a comprehensive and authoritative work titled "Domestication of Plants in the Old World", offering a detailed exploration of the origins and dissemination of cultivated plants across southwest Asia, Europe, and North Africa. This seminal work made its debut in 1988, undergoing subsequent editions that further solidified its relevance and impact.

Dani was born in Jerusalem to Michael Zohary, a botany professor, and Leah. Inspired by travels with his father on botanical expeditions, Dani took an interest in the flora of the region and began to interact with other researchers like Tuviah Kushnir, Daniel Raz and Eviatar. Conscripted at 17, he joined the Palmach and joined the Hebrew University three years later. His study was interrupted by war in 1948, and he was posted into the field, where he lost close friends including Tuviah Kushnir. In 1952, he moved to the University of California and worked on his PhD under G. Ledyard Stebbins on the cytogenetics of Dactylis glomerata. He received the John Belling Prize in genetics. In 1954 he married Devora, and in 1956, he returned to the Hebrew University where he helped found the department of genetics. He guided numerous students who became plant breeders and geneticists. He was also a talented field botanist, among the few in Israel who could identify nearly all of the more than 2500 species of plants found there.

The standard author abbreviation D.Zohary is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.