Rudolph Wiener was born on 18 February 1901 at Capetown, South Africa, the son of Frederick Kilgour Wiener, a company director; his mother, Dorothea Jourdan, was the daughter of a predikant in the Dutch Reformed Church, and he was the third son of a family of seven. Wiener was educated at Rondebosch High School, the University of Capetown and St Thomas's Hospital, where he was influenced by W Rowley Bristow. He served in the Royal Flying Corps from 1917 to 1919 as a 2nd lieutenant, and later held house posts at St Thomas's Hospital, the Royal Cancer Hospital and Leicester Royal Infirmary before becoming senior hospital medical officer at High Wycombe Hospital and practising in High Wycombe until his retirement in 1966. A keen rugby player in his youth, he took up golf in retirement. He died on 23 February 1991, survived by his wife Rosamond, née Batting (whom he had married in 1931), son Timothy and daughters Mary and Audrey.