Theodore Christian Frye

Theodore Christian Frye (September 15, 1869, Washington, Illinois – April 5, 1962, Seattle) was an American botany professor and one of the world's leading experts on bryology.

Biography Born on a farm near Washington, Illinois, Theodore C. Frye was the eldest of five boys in a family of ten children. He embarked on a teaching career even before he had completed his own high school degree.

Education By age 22, Frye had completed all the entrance requirements for his matriculation at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. There he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1894. From 1894 to 1896 he was a teacher and high school principal in Monticello, Illinois. From 1896 to 1897 he was a graduate student in botany at the University of Chicago. From 1897 to 1900 was superintendent of schools in Batavia, Illinois. From 1900 to 1902 he was a graduate student and an assistant in plant histology at the University of Chicago. There he graduated in 1902 with a Ph.D. in botany. His doctoral dissertation, supervised by John Merle Coulter, is entitled A Morphological Study of Certain Asclepiadaceae.

Teaching From 1902 to 1903 Frye was a professor of biology at Morningside College in Iowa. When he was the director he was also on the editorial board of The Puget Sound Marine Station Publications from 1915 to 1917 and The Puget Sound Biological Station Publications from 1918 to 1930.

Several species of kelp are edible seaweeds eaten in China, Korea, and Japan since prehistoric times. Frye and Charles Edward Magnusson experimented with a process of candying kelp bulbs They 'came up with a product that looked and tasted like citron (which they called "Seatron") but the two scientists never carried the project beyond the patent stage.' Frye's "bryophyte herbarium was one of the largest and best known collections in the American West."

Marriage and family In June 1908 in Seattle he married Else Marie Anthon. In 1962, faculty, alumni, and friends of Hotson, Rigg, and Frye established the Frye-Hotson-Rigg Award to honour the former professors of Botany at the University of Washington. The award is given to undergraduate Biology students "conducting research using a plant, algae, or fungi system for work in botany, ecology, evolution, taxonomy, environmental science, or biodiversity."

Eponyms Genera Fryeella gardneri

Species Fauchea fryeana Internoretia fryeana Limbella fryei (synonym: Sciaromium fryei)

Selected publications