Cornell University the following year. During course registration at Cornell University, John met Herbert Hice Whetzel, the founder of the Cornell University Department of Plant Pathology and Whetzel convinced him to become a plant pathologist. Under Whetzel John completed his undergraduate studies in 1939 and his Ph.D. ("The rust of greenhouse-grown spearmint and its control") in 1943 at Cornell University. John's career focused on potato and potato diseases. He first gained experience with potato while at Cornell University, where he worked for the New York State Seed Certification Service during the summer while he was in graduate school. After graduation, he became an extension plant pathologist, replacing Mortier Barrus, who was the first extension plant pathologist in the United States. In 1947, John was recruited by George Harrar, a former student of Elvin Stakman, to join the Rockefeller Foundation's Mexican Agricultural Program. In the 1960s Niederhauser worked at MAP, occupied with the Phytophthora infestans situation in Central Mexico. Assuming that the locals had simply never tried breeding for late blight resistance, he was surprised to find that resistant seed he shipped in from New York State fell to the local P. i. races as easily as the local seed stock did. Niederhauser then spent the next several years investigating and remedying this problem, by breeding in resistance from wild Solanum demissum native to the same area, especially in the Toluca Valley. Niederhauser's life and career in plant pathology are described in an autobiographical book, Recollections of a Life in Science and Agriculture. He died in Tucson in 2005. References External links 1916 births 2005 deaths People from Seattle Deep Springs College alumni Cornell University alumni Agriculture and food award winners