Kenneth Bryan Raper

Kenneth Bryan Raper (July 11, 1908 – January 15, 1987) was an American mycologist.

Life Kenneth B. Raper was born in 1908 as the seventh of eight children to William F. Raper and his wife Julia. The children all worked on the family farm in Welcome, Davidson County, North Carolina, and were well educated. His younger brother John, nicknamed "Red", also became a mycologist. Kenneth was advanced from the sixth grade to the eighth, and enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1925. and James Cavender. He remained at Madison even beyond his retirement 1979, as professor emeritus.

Raper was an elected member of the United States National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.

Work Raper is best remembered for his works on three groups of organisms. He produced a Manual of the Aspergilli in 1945 with Charles Thom, incorporating their various earlier works on the genus Aspergillus. He was instrumental in the study of many strains of Penicillium, and their use in the production of penicillin. He also described the slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum, laying out the various features that made it a good study organism; it has gone on to become one of the most studied model species. He also stimulated subsequent work by his students on the diversity of dictyostelids.