Paul Edward Stamets (born July 17, 1955)[3] is an American mycologist and entrepreneur who sells various mushroom products through his company. He is an author and advocate of medicinal fungi and mycoremediation.
Early and personal life
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Stamets was born in Salem, Ohio.[4] He grew up in Columbiana, Ohio, with older and younger siblings.[5] He graduated from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, with a bachelor's degree in 1979.[6] He worked as a logger.[6] As of 2013, Stamets was married to Carolyn "Dusty" Yao.[4] He has an honorary doctorate from the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland.[7]
Mycological interest
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Stamets credits his late brother, John, with stimulating his interest in mycology,[5] and studied mycology as an undergraduate student.[4] Having no academic training higher than a bachelor's degree, Stamets is largely self-taught in the field of mycology.[8][9]
Stamets received the 'Bioneers' Award from the Collective Heritage Institute in 1998 and the 'Award for Contributions to Amateur Mycology' from the North American Mycological Association in 2013.[10] He also received an Invention Ambassador (2014–2015) award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).[11][12]
In popular culture
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Stamets plays a significant part in the 2019 documentary film Fantastic Fungi, and edited the film’s official companion book, Fantastic Fungi: Expanding Consciousness, Alternative Healing, Environmental Impact.[13]
The character Lieutenant Commander Paul Stamets on the CBS series Star Trek: Discovery was named after the real Stamets. The fictional version is an astromycologist and engineer aboard the USS Discovery, and is credited with discovering how to navigate a mycelial network in space using a "spore drive".[14]
Books
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Psilocybe Mushrooms & Their Allies (1978), Homestead Book Company, ISBN 978-0-930180-03-4
The Mushroom Cultivator: A Practical Guide to Growing Mushrooms at Home (1983), Paul Stamets and J. S. Chilton, Agarikon Press, ISBN 9780961079802
Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms (1993; 3rd edition: 2000), Ten Speed Press, ISBN 978-1-58008-175-7
Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World (1996), Ten Speed Press, ISBN 978-0-89815-839-7
Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World (2005), Ten Speed Press, ISBN 978-1-58008-579-3)
Fantastic Fungi: How Mushrooms Can Heal, Shift Consciousness & Save the Planet (2019), Earth Aware Editions, ISBN 978-1-68383-704-6, 978-1683837046
The standard author abbreviation Stamets is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[15]
References
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^Myers, Jim (May 26, 2015). "The fungus among us". The Tennessean. Retrieved July 19, 2015. Paul Stamets, widely regarded an expert in the fungal world...
^Shea, Carolyn (2014). "Following the Mycelial Path to Discovery and Saving the World". Evergreen Magazine. Retrieved September 5, 2019. ... as an Evergreen student in the 1970s ... [he entered] into the study of mycology with faculty member Michael Beug ...
^Trimarco, James (October 1, 2010). "Can Mushrooms Rescue the Gulf?". Yes!. Archived from the original on September 20, 2015. Retrieved July 19, 2015. He began his career in the forest as a logger, not as a scientist, and holds no degree higher than a bachelor's from the Evergreen State College.
^"NAMA Awards". North American Mycological Association. Archived from the original on September 6, 2019. Retrieved September 6, 2019.