微生物學(xué)家。福建福州人。1923年清華學(xué)堂畢業(yè)后，公費留學(xué)美國，在康乃爾大學(xué)獲植物病理學(xué)博士和森林學(xué)碩士學(xué)位。中國科學(xué)院微生物研究所研究員、副所長。早期從事林業(yè)、植物病理學(xué)研究工作。運用生態(tài)學(xué)觀點研究中國早期林業(yè)史、造林與管理、洪壩森林等問題；對半邊蓮的絲核菌病、水稻黑穗病、棉糧作物主要病害及其它經(jīng)濟(jì)作物病害防治研究均取得成就；尤其是專長于真菌學(xué)研究，發(fā)現(xiàn)新種120個，新屬4個，已為國際上公認(rèn)，并被列入英國真菌研究所編寫的《真菌學(xué)字典》；還對蘑菇識別、食用菌的營養(yǎng)價值、毒蘑類型、中毒癥狀、解毒方法有系統(tǒng)的闡述，為粘菌和真菌分類作出了貢獻(xiàn)。

1955年被選聘為中國科學(xué)院院士（學(xué)部委員）。

Microbiologist. Born in Fuzhou, Fujian Province. Graduated from Tsinghua School in 1923. Received Ph.D. in plant pathology and MS in forest science from Cornell University. Professor and deputy director,Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Acasemy of Sciences.

Deng worked on forestry and plant pathology in his early career.He applied ideas to the study on the early Chinese forestry history,reforestation and management, and flood dam forests. He made great successes in the prevention of the fungal disease caused by mitoscleromycetes in the Chinese lobelia, and in the control of rice smut and many other diseases of cereals, cotton and other economic crops. He had special expertise in the field of mycology. The 120 new species and 4 new genera that he descrobed scientifically have been accepted in the world and was included in the “Mycology of the Fungi” compiled by the Institute of Fungus, England. He made great contributions to the identification of mushrooms, the nutrition value of edible fungi, the types of toadstools, and the symptoms of mushroon intoxication and method for detoxification. He also contributed to the taxonomy of slime molds and fungi.

He became Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1955.