Paul Neergaard

Paul Neergaard (1907 to 1987), born Pierre Paul Ferdinand Mourier de Neergaard, was a Danish agronomist, mycologist and agriculturist who is considered the father of seed pathology. He trained in seed pathology at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Copenhagen, taking his Sc.D. in 1945, and served as director of the Danish Government Institute of Seed Pathology for Developing Countries. From 1956 to 1974 he chaired the Plant Disease Committee of the International Seed Testing Association, helping to standardize methods for detecting seed-borne fungi. With the Scottish seed pathologist Mary Noble he coined the term seed pathology in the 1940s, and his two-volume Seed Pathology, published in 1977, became a reference and teaching standard worldwide. He was a professor at universities in Beirut and Mysore and an active promoter of Esperanto.