Paul Stamets
Paul Stamets is an American mycologist and entrepreneur who sells mushroom products through his company. In addition, he is an author and advocate of medicinal fungi and mycoremediation. Stamets was born in Salem, Ohio. He grew up in Columbiana, Ohio, with an older brother, John, his twin brother North, and younger siblings.
He graduated from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, with a bachelor's degree in 1979. He began his career in the forest as a logger. He has an honorary doctorate from the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland. Stamets credits his late brother, John, with stimulating his interest in mycology, and he studied mycology as an undergraduate student. Having no academic training higher than a bachelor's degree, Stamets is mainly self-taught in mycology.
Paul Stamets received an Invention Ambassador award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Stamets played a significant part in the 2019 documentary Fantastic Fungi and edited the film's official companion book, Fantastic Fungi: Expanding Consciousness, Alternative Healing, Environmental Impact.
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."
