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.
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 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]
^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.