PHILIP HERRIES GREGORY 1907–1986: Pioneer Aerobiologist, Versatile Mycologist

Abstract

Philip Gregory pioneered aerobiology as a topic for research, drawing together inputs from many disciplines to contribute to better understanding of fungal spore dispersal, plant disease epidemiology, and allergy. In childhood, he was interested in natural history and meteorology and frequently suffered from asthma. Initially, he worked with dermatophytes in Winnipeg, where he was influenced by Buller. Returning to Britain, he investigated the epidemiology first of flower bulb diseases and then of potato virus diseases, noting the occurrence of disease gradients in crops. He developed theories of spore dispersal during wartime air-raid duties and published these in his classic paper of 1945. The remainder of his career was largely spent obtaining data in support of his theories of spore dispersal and disease gradients, on understanding splash dispersal, in identifying the cause of farmer's lung disease, and in his retirement, in elucidating the epidemiology of black pod disease of cocoa in Nigeria.