Plant pathology has developed from antiquity, but scientific study began in the Early modern period and developed in the 19th century.
Early history 300–286 BC; Theophrastus, father of botany, wrote and studied diseases of trees, cereals and legumes
17th century 1665; Robert Hooke illustrates a plant-pathogenic fungal disease, rose rust 1675; Antony van Leeuwenhoek invents the compound microscope, in 1683 describes bacteria seen with the microscope
18th century 1729; Pier Antonio Micheli observes fungal spores, conducts germination experiments 1755; Mathieu Tillet reports on treatment of seeds 1767; Felice Fontana and Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti show that stem rust is caused by the fungus Puccinia graminis
19th century 1802; Lime sulfur first used to control plant disease 1845–1849; Potato late blight epidemic in Ireland 1853; Heinrich Anton de Bary, father of modern mycology, establishes that fungi are the cause, not the result, of plant diseases, publishes "Untersuchungen uber die Brandpilze" 1858; Julius Kühn publishes "Die Krankheiten der Kultergewachse" 1865; M. Planchon discovers a new species of Phylloxera, which was named Phylloxera vastatrix. 1868–1882; Coffee rust epidemic in Sri Lanka 1871; Thomas Taylor publishes the first USDA papers on microscopic plant pathogens 1875; Mikhail Woronin identified the cause of clubroot as a "plasmodiophorous organism" and gave it the name Plasmodiophora brassicae 1876; Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense, responsible for Panama disease, discovered in bananas in Australia 1878–1885; Downy mildew of grape epidemic in France 1879; Robert Koch establishes germ theory: diseases are caused by microorganisms 1882; Lehrbuch der Baumkrankheiten (Textbook of Diseases of Trees), by Robert Hartig, is published in Berlin, the first textbook of forest pathology. 1885; Bordeaux mixture introduced by Pierre-Marie-Alexis Millardet to control downy mildew on grape 1885; Experimental proof that bacteria can cause plant diseases: Erwinia amylovora and fire blight of apple 1886–1898; Recognition of plant viral diseases: Tobacco mosaic virus 1889; Introduction of hot water treatment of seed for disease control by J. L. Jensen
20th century 1902; First chair of plant pathology established, in Copenhagen 1904; Mendelian inheritance of cereal rust resistance demonstrated 1907; First academic department of plant pathology established at Cornell University 1908; American Phytopathological Society founded 1910; Panama disease reaches Western Hemisphere 1911; Scientific journal Phytopathology founded 1923; Lawrence Ogilvie identified the virus that had devastated Bermuda's high-value lily bulb crops. 1925; Panama disease reaches every banana-growing country in the Western Hemisphere 1951; European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO) founded 1967; Recognition of plant pathogenic mycoplasma-like organisms 1971; Theodor Otto Diener discovers viroids, organisms smaller than viruses
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