Greta Albrecht Fryxell (November 21, 1926 – September 24, 2017) was a marine scientist known for her work on the biology and taxonomy of

diatoms A diatom (New Latin, Neo-Latin ''diatoma''), "a cutting through, a severance", from el, διάτομος, diátomos, "cut in half, divided equally" from el, διατέμνω, diatémno, "to cut in twain". is any member of a large group com ...

. In 1996, she was elected a fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

Education and career

Fryxell graduated summa cum laude from Augustana College in 1948 and then taught in junior high schools in Iowa. She was one of the first women admitted to

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

where she first earned a masters in education in 1969. In 1975, she earned her Ph.D. from Texas A&M University working on the taxonomy of select

. Fryxell worked at Texas A&M University and the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Research

Fryxell is known for her research on phytoplankton, especially diatoms, where she combined investigations of laboratory cultures with samples collected from a variety of locations including the North Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Antarctica. She established a framework for phytoplankton taxonomy and, on her 70th birthday, the ''Fryxelliella'' genus of diatoms was named after her to acknowledge her work on diatom taxonomy and biology. In 1970, Fryxell worked with

Grethe Rytter Hasle Grethe Berit Rytter Hasle (3 January 1920 – 9 November 2013) was a Norwegian planktologist. Among the first female professors of natural science at the University of Oslo, she specialized in the study of phytoplankton. Personal life Hasle was ...

to describe a means to prepare diatom samples for microscopy. They would go on to jointly publish many species descriptions As a part of her graduate work with Sayed El-Sayed, Fryxell described the diatoms in a sample collected by the Shackelton expedition on 20 August 1908; the sample was collected from 50 to 80

fathoms A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems equal to , used especially for measuring the depth of water. The fathom is neither an International Standard (SI) unit, nor an internationally-accepted non-SI unit. Hi ...

near

Cape Royds Cape Royds is a dark rock cape forming the western extremity of Ross Island, facing on McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. It was discovered by the Discovery Expedition (1901–1904) and named for Lieutenant Charles Royds, Royal Navy, who acted as meteoro ...

, Ross Island. She has described chain-forming diatoms and the evolution of diatoms. In the North Atlantic Ocean, she examined diatoms in Gulf Stream warm core rings and how the warm core rings alter the distribution of diatoms. In Antarctica, she examined phytoplankton found in Antarctic pack ice. Fryxell's research includes investigations into multiple species of ''

Pseudo-nitzschia ''Pseudo-nitzschia'' is a marine planktonic diatom genus that accounts for 4.4% of pennate diatoms found worldwide. Some species are capable of producing the neurotoxin domoic acid (DA), which is responsible for the neurological disorder in huma ...

,'' and their role in toxin production in the Gulf of Mexico and the west coast of the United States. She has also worked on diatoms that produce

domoic acid Domoic acid (DA) is a kainic acid-type neurotoxin that causes amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP). It is produced by algae and accumulates in shellfish, sardines, and anchovies. When sea lions, otters, cetaceans, humans, and other predators eat cont ...

Selected publications

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Awards and honors

In 1997, the Genus ''Fryxelliella'' was named in honor of Fryxell's work on diatoms. Other phytoplankton named after Fryxell include ''Actinocyclus fryxelliae'' Barron, P''oloniasira fryxelliana'' I. Kaczmarska & J.M. Ehrman, and ''Thalassiosira fryxelliae.'' In 1988, she received the Provasoli Award of the

Phycological Society of America The Phycological Society of America (PSA) is a professional society, founded in 1946, that is dedicated to the advancement of phycology, the study of algae. The PSA is responsible for the publication of ''Journal of Phycology'' and organizes an ...

for a paper she co-authored with A. Michelle Wood and Russell Lande. In 1996, she received the Phycological Society of America's Award of Excellence. She also received a Distinguished Achievement Award in Research from Texas A&M's Former Students' Association (1991) and was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1996. In 2008, there was a

festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

in her honor.

Personal life

She married the botanist

Paul Fryxell Paul Arnold Fryxell was an American botanist known for his work on flowering plants, especially those within the Malvaceae. Education and career Fryxell attended Moline public schools and later Augustana College, graduating with a B.A. in 194 ...

in 1947. Three of her children contributed to the 2008 festschrift in her honor: Karl J Fryxell, Joan E. Fryxell, and Glen E. Fryxell.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fryxell, Greta 1926 births 2017 deaths Texas A&M University alumni Texas A&M University faculty University of Texas at Austin faculty Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science People from Princeton, New Jersey Women taxonomists 20th-century American botanists