R. James Cook | |
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| Born | 1937 (age 88–89) Moorhead, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Education | |
| Partner | Beverly Ann Miller |
| Children | 4 |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Washington State University |
Robert James Cook (born 1937) is an Americanphytopathologist (plant disease researcher). He is best known for his work on soil-borne pathogens affecting wheat. He is the recipient of aGuggenheim Fellowship and theWolf Prize in Agriculture and is a member of theNational Academy of Sciences.
Robert James Cook was born in 1937 in northwestern Minnesota. He was the eldest of eight children born to his parents,[1] Irenenée Klug and Robert Donald Cook.[2] He and his family lived on a 400 acres (160 ha) farm near the North Dakota border where they grew grain. Initially, Cook intended on becoming a farmer, and attendedNorth Dakota State University for a degree inanimal science andagronomy. During his undergraduate degree, he worked for a plant virologist, which inspired him to rethink his plans for the future. He stayed at North Dakota State for a master's degree in plant pathology in 1960. For his PhD, he attended theUniversity of California, Berkeley to research soil-borne pathogens; he graduated with his doctorate in 1964.[1] His dissertation was about the interactions and life cycle ofFusarium, a genus of fungi that live in the soil and sometimes cause root disease.[3]
Cook joined the faculty atWashington State University in 1965 as part of the USDAAgricultural Research Service. He was hired to research diseases that affect the roots ofwheat plants and appropriate control strategies. One of his early findings was that the diseasetake-all could be controlled by continuously planting wheat, which eventually caused the soil to suppress the causative fungus.[1] He was theeditor of theAnnual Review of Phytopathology from 1985–1994.[4]Cook retired from Washington State University in 2005, at which time he became a professoremeritus.[5]
Cook married Beverly Ann Miller; the couple had four children together.[6]
Cook was awarded aGuggenheim Fellowship in 1973. In 1993 he was inducted as a member of theNational Academy of Sciences.[7] In 1998, the R. James Cook Endowed Chair in Wheat Research was established by wheat farmers in Washington with a $1.5 million endowment.[1] In 2011 he received theWolf Prize in Agriculture along withHarris Lewin.[5] He is the namesake of the R.J. Cook Agronomy Farm, just east of the WSU campus in Pullman.[1] He is also part of the Agricultural Research Service Hall of Fame.[3]
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