Robert James Cook (born 1937) is an American

phytopathologist Plant pathology or phytopathology is the scientific study of plant diseases caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Plant pathology involves the study of pathogen identification, disease ...

(plant disease researcher). He is best known for his work on soil-borne pathogens affecting wheat. He is the recipient of a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

and the

Wolf Prize in Agriculture The Wolf Prize in Agriculture is awarded annually since 1978 by the Wolf Foundation in Israel. It is one of the six Wolf Prizes, alongside those for Wolf Prize in Chemistry, chemistry, Wolf Prize in Mathematics, mathematics, Wolf Prize in Medicine, ...

and is a member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

Early life and education

Robert James Cook was born in 1937 in northwestern Minnesota. He was the eldest of eight children born to his parents, Irene and Robert Donald Cook. He and his family lived on a farm near the North Dakota border where they grew grain. Initially, Cook intended on becoming a farmer, and attended

North Dakota State University North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota, United States. It was ...

for a degree in

animal science Animal science is described as "studying the biology of animals that are under the control of humankind". It can also be described as the production and management of farm animals. Historically, the degree was called animal husbandry and the ...

and

agronomy Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants by agriculture for food, fuel, fiber, chemicals, recreation, or land conservation. Agronomy has come to include research of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and ...

. 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 the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

to research soil-borne pathogens; he graduated with his doctorate in 1964. His dissertation was about the interactions and life cycle of ''

Fusarium ''Fusarium'' (; ) is a large genus of filamentous fungi, part of a group often referred to as hyphomycetes, widely distributed in soil and associated with plants. Most species are harmless saprobes, and are relatively abundant members of the s ...

'', a genus of fungi that live in the soil and sometimes cause root disease.

Career

Cook joined the faculty at

Washington State University Washington State University (WSU, or colloquially Wazzu) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Pullman, Washington, United States. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest Land-grant uni ...

in 1965 as part of the USDA

Agricultural Research Service The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the principal in-house research agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). ARS is one of four agencies in USDA's Research, Education and Economics mission area. ARS is charged with ext ...

. He was hired to research diseases that affect the roots of

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

plants and appropriate control strategies. One of his early findings was that the disease

take-all Take-all is a plant disease affecting the roots of grass and cereal plants in temperate climates caused by the fungus ''Gaeumannomyces tritici'' (previously known as ''Gaeumannomyces graminis ''var. ''tritici''). All varieties of wheat and barle ...

could be controlled by continuously planting wheat, which eventually caused the soil to suppress the causative fungus. He was the

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

of the ''

Annual Review of Phytopathology The ''Annual Review of Phytopathology'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes review articles about phytopathology, the study of diseases that affect plants. It was first published in 1963 as the result of a collaboration between the ...

'' from 1985–1994. Cook retired from Washington State University in 2005, at which time he became a professor

emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

Personal life

Cook married Beverly Ann Miller; the couple had four children together.

Awards and honors

Cook was awarded a

in 1973. In 1993 he was inducted as a member of the

. In 1998, the R. James Cook Endowed Chair in Wheat Research was established by wheat farmers in Washington with a $1.5 million endowment. In 2011 he received the

along with Harris Lewin. He is the namesake of the R.J. Cook Agronomy Farm, just east of the WSU campus in Pullman. He is also part of the Agricultural Research Service Hall of Fame.

References

External links

''Untold Stories: Forty Years of Research on Root Diseases of Wheat''
Cook's 2017 memoir {{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Robert James 1937 births Living people People from Moorhead, Minnesota North Dakota State University alumni UC Berkeley College of Natural Resources alumni Washington State University faculty American phytopathologists Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Annual Reviews (publisher) editors