| Date | 1807 |
| Author | Prevost |
| Contribution | Reported that bunt or smut of wheat was caused by microscopic "spores" of fungi. |
| Reference | Ainsworth |
| Notes | Also that it could be prevented by soaking wheat seeds in copper sulfate. This could be regarded as the first record of the pathogenicity of a micro-organism (and of a disease being controlled by willful use of a chemical to destroy the pathogen). See 1885. Ainsworth gives further details of this work by Isaac-Benedict Prevost; notes that obscurity of publication caused delay in impact, but cited by others in 1847. |
| Category | Causation |
| Pathogen Class | Fungi |
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