Star Trek: Discoveryintroduced several fun and engaging characters to the franchise’s endless roster. Sonequa Martin-Green’s Michael Burnham shook expectations among central characters in several ways. Doug Jones, an endlessly unique performer, brought Saru to life with his trademark physicality, delivering one of the show’s best aliens. Anthony Rapp portrays Paul Stamets, a dedicated and skilled scientist fascinated by mycelium. His name and his most important scientific discovery come from a real mycologist, Paul Edward Stamets.
Star Trekhas a long and fascinating history of naming characters after real people. Historical scientists have found their way into the series in the past.Jean-Luc Picard tookhis name from Swiss-born chemist and balloonist Jean Felix Piccard. Piccard made several strides in the field of balloon technology, including co-inventing the plastic balloon with his wife.Star Trekcanonized Piccard by implying a genetic connection to the Starfleet Captain. It’s less common to see a living figure’s name pop up as aStar Trekcharacter.
Portrayed by
First Appearance
Season One, Episode Three: “Context is for Kings”
Paul Stamets is a gifted astromycologist who works onthe USSDiscovery. His magnum opus is a form of propulsion called the spore drive. Working extensively with his research partner, Straal, Stamets harnessed a species of fungus calledPrototaxites stellaviatori. This unique mushroom spreads its mycelium into a discrete subspace dimension called the mycelial network. Thanks to their endless fungal roots, these mycelium provide roads to every destination in the universe. Stamets and Straal worked tirelessly for twelve years to develop the spore drive, which could theoretically pass through the mycelial barrier and travel vast distances instantaneously. They failed to show any conclusive results, but the rapidly-escalating war between the United Federation of Planets andthe Klingon Empireforced Stamets into new territory.
The Federation stationed Stamets on theUSS Discovery, an experimental vessel designed to potentially take advantage of the spore drive. Stamets disliked the idea of his scientific pursuits being used for military purposes. Despite his misgivings, a laboratory accident left him with a bizarre new development in his quest. A nightmarish creature nicknamed “Ripper” emerged. Bylinking this enhanced tardigradeto the mycelial network, Stamets created an organic navigation computer capable of long spore jumps. Repeated use of the spore drive gradually disabled Ripper, eventually leaving him nonresponsive. Without a backup plan, Stamets injected himself with tardigrade DNA to fill Ripper’s role. Stamets became unstuck in time, able to perceive events outside their position in the linear flow of the universe. This led to several bizarre circumstances.
Overuse of Stamets' spore drive connection eventually trapped his consciousness in the mycelial network. While there, he encounteredhis mirror-universe counterpart. His husband, Hugh Culber, died while he was away. While repairing the mycelial network, Stamets launched theDiscoverynine months into the future. Some time later, Stamets would navigate theDiscoveryinto the mycelial network to save Ensign Sylvia Tilly. He found Culber during the journey, which eventually led to a 1000-year time jump. TheDiscovery, along with Stamets and several other crew members, popped up in the 32nd century. Aside from his scientific work, his relationship with his husband is key to his character. As a massive leapforward for gay representationinStar Trek, Stamets' marriage is endlessly charming. He tells the story of their meet-cute like this:
Hugh and I fell in love after I told him to get lost. I was in a wonderful café on Alpha Centauri, when, three seats down, comes this hideous humming. Have you ever heard someone try to hum Kasseelian opera?… Well, I told him to stifle it or sit somewhere else. Instead, he sat right next to me. And he’s been there ever since.
Who is the real Paul Stamets?
Paul Edward Stamets is a hugely fascinating figure in the world of mycology. Stamets has researched and releasedextensive scientific researchon nearly every aspect of mushrooms. Since the late 1970s, he’s published papers like “How to grow mushrooms: a simplified overview of mushroom cultivation strategies” and books likePsilocybe Mushrooms & Their Allies. In recent years, Stamets dedicated an immense amount of time to finding mycological solutions to the ongoing bee crisis. He’s a leading expert on medicinal fungi and one of the most interesting voices in the world of microdosing. His website can be foundhere, and it’s an excellent resource.
Paul Stamets has released several TED Talks more compelling thanStar Trek: Discovery. Borrowing the scientist’s name is a fascinating choice that demonstrates some solid source material. As a fictional scientist, Stamets is an engaging figure worthy of further exploration. As anyone who has seen Stamets' website can attest, humanity isn’t quite ready to traverse space through mushrooms. However, if there is a way to cross into an alternate universe through fungus, Stamets is the man to get us there.
