Life lesson: To be firm in advancing conclusions based on one's own primary data (experience, repeated observations) and always to suspect (and check) secondary sources, which often as not are traps for the unwary. Resist reaching a conclusion based on unverified "information" or first impressions, either professional or personal.

H. L. Mencken made a nice point: "There is always a well-known solution to every human problem—neat, plausible, and wrong."

The unseen underground feeding mechanisms of fungi are the great recyclers: autumn leaves, cornstalk debris, mountains of trash, all returned to usable form mainly by fungi. No soil fungi, no trees and forests as we know them. No waving fields of grain. No escape from unforeseen pneumonia. No athlete's foot. No bread, no booze.

Magazine
Fall/Winter 1999

Dr. Emory Simmons ’41
mycologist, former head of mycology, U.S. Army Natick Research Laboratory,
Honorary Fellow of the British Mycological Society

What is the most significant event that has occurred in your profession or field of study during the 20th century? What lesson do you take away from that event?

My mycology research specialty, in a broad sense, has been the characterization of microscopic fungi—molds, if you like. The discovery that many mold species produce metabolites (antibiotics) that can interrupt the pathogenic processes of other organisms surely is the mycological event that has had the most impact in our lifetime. Consider the connections among your last sore throat or surgery, penicillin in its many varieties, and the producing fungus Penicillium.

Personally, what is the most meaningful life lesson you have taken from your vocation or avocation?

Life lesson: To be firm in advancing conclusions based on one's own primary data (experience, repeated observations) and always to suspect (and check) secondary sources, which often as not are traps for the unwary. Resist reaching a conclusion based on unverified "information" or first impressions, either professional or personal.

H. L. Mencken made a nice point: "There is always a well-known solution to every human problem—neat, plausible, and wrong."

What person(s) or mentor(s) have had the most significant impact on your life? Can you describe how that person affected your life?

I feel certain that each one of the individuals who provided grounding for my professional career would be a bit startled if singled out as my "significant impactor." An excellent high school (Crawfordsville in the 1930s), Wabash, and two graduate universities all had individuals who provided me with the best in their fields. What they passed on to me were several parts of a broad liberal arts perspective. They knew what they were doing in the context of a liberal arts education. Their impact on me has been collective liberal with my profes sional work going off at a tangent that not one of them could have predicted any more than I could, but which has its foundation in their contributions.

In your experience, what is the greatest misconception the public has about your vocation (or field of study) or the people in that vocation?

I used to be irritated, but now am amused, at the common reaction to my explanation of "mycology" as the study of fungi. The range of response usually runs to finding spring morels and distinguishing between edible and poisonous mushrooms.

In the real world, the estimate of fungus biomass is about two tons per human being in the overall biosphere. The unseen underground feeding mechanisms of fungi are the great recyclers: autumn leaves, cornstalk debris, mountains of trash, all returned to usable form mainly by fungi. No soil fungi, no trees and forests as we know them. No waving fields of grain. No escape from unforeseen pneumonia. No athlete's foot. No bread, no booze. And on and on. Give us non-mushroom mycologists a break!

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