History of the BSPP – A Timeline

The British Society for Plant Pathology was established in 1981 as an independent learned society. 

Here is a simple timeline of the events leading up to our formation, and the subsequent publication of our 3 journals…

1896 – Formation of the British Mycological Society (BMS)

1904 – Formation of the Association of Economic Biologists (AEB)

1934 – AEB changes name to become the Association of Applied Biologists (AAB)

1952 – UK Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food (MAFF) begins publishing the journal Plant Pathology

1966 – AAB and BMS form the Federation of British Plant Pathologists (FBPP)

1981 – Formation of the BSPP from the FBPP

1987 – Purchase of Plant Pathology from the MAFF

2000 – Publication of New Disease Reports

2001 – Publication of Molecular Plant Pathology (25th December)

Articles from our 25th anniversary in 2006

To celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the foundation of the British Society for Plant Pathology, a special celebratory one day meeting was held at Imperial College, London on 19th December 2006. The programme of talks was specially organised to reflect the past, present and future interests of the Society.

• A message from the first president – notes on the origin of the BSPP
  by R K S Wood, BSPP President 1982
• The BSPP: A retrospective
  by Nigel Hardwick, BSPP President 1997
• 25 years for BSPP is an achievement to be proud of
  by Peter Mills, BSPP President 2006
• 25 years of plant pathogen interactions
  by Richard Cooper, BSPP President 2007
• The BSPP: Celebrating 25 Years
  by Nigel Hardwick, BSPP President 1997
• The first issue of Molecular Plant Pathology journal
  by Gary Foster, BSPP President 2015