Stephen Denis Garrett[a] FRS (1 November 1906 – 26 December 1989) was a British plant pathologist and mycologist who did pioneering work on soil-borne pathogens, root pathology and soil ecology.[1][2][3] He was the first to apply ecological concepts to interactions in the soil. Much of his research used as a model system the fungus Gaeumannomyces graminis, which causes the important cereal disease take-all. He also studied Armillaria root rot of trees, among other plant diseases.
Garrett spent most of his career at Rothamsted Experimental Station (1936–48) and the University of Cambridge's school of botany (1949–73), where he was professor of mycology and acting head of department, and also held a fellowship at Magdalene College. He was president of the British Mycological Society and was instrumental in founding the forerunner of the British Society for Plant Pathology. He published four books, of which Root Disease Fungi (1944) and Biology of Root-infecting Fungi (1956) were the most influential, and was the editor of Annals of Applied Biology and Transactions of the British Mycological Society.
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