Frederick Bayer

{{Short description|American malacologist and cnidariologist (1921–2007)}} '''Frederick Merkle Bayer''' (October 31, 1921 — October 2, 2007) was an American curator emeritus at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History and a marine biologist who specialized in the study of soft corals.<ref name=bg>{{Cite news |first=Adam |last=Bernstein|title= Frederick Bayer, 85; biologist studied corals in deep sea |url=https://archive.boston.com/news/globe/obituaries/articles/2007/10/23/frederick_bayer_85_biologist_studied_corals_in_deep_sea/|newspaper= Washington Post |publisher=Boston Globe |date=2007-10-23 |access-date=2007-10-23}}</ref>

==Early life and education== Frederick Bayer was born on Halloween night 1921,<ref>{{Cite web |url = http://scienceblogs.com/deepseanews/2007/10/in_memorium_dr_frederick_ted_b.php |title = In memoriam: Dr. Frederick "Ted" Bayer |accessdate = 2007-10-29 |author = Cairns, Stephen |date = 2007-11-03 |publisher = Deep Sea News |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080725142812/http://scienceblogs.com/deepseanews/2007/10/in_memorium_dr_frederick_ted_b.php |archive-date = 2008-07-25 |url-status = dead }}</ref> in Asbury Park, New Jersey,<ref name=bg/> but spent much of his childhood in South Florida, where he collected seashells and became an amateur naturalist.<ref name=bg/>

Bayer joined the Army Air Forces from December 1942 to December 1945. While in the Army Air Forces, he was a photographic technician with the 36th Photo Reconnaissance unit in the Pacific War during World War II.<ref name=bg/> While in the military, he often sketched and collected fish, shells and butterflies throughout New Guinea, the Philippines, and Okinawa.<ref name=bg/>

Bayer received his bachelor's degree from the University of Miami.<ref name=bg/> He continued his studies and obtained a master's degree in taxonomy from George Washington University in 1954.<ref name=bg/> In 1958, he completed a doctorate in taxonomy from George Washington University.<ref name=bg/>

==Career== Bayer worked at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History from 1947 until 1961.<ref name=bg/> He returned to work at the museum again from 1975 until 1996. He served as a professor at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science between 1961 and 1975. While at the University of Miami, Bayer participated in a number of soft coral-collecting expeditions in the Caribbean Sea and in the waters off West Africa.<ref name=bg/>

Following his arrival at the Smithsonian, Bayer was sent to Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean to study the effects of nuclear testing on the island's marine life, as part of the re-survey conducted one year after the Able and Baker tests of 1946 were carried out.<ref>{{Cite web |url = https://naturalhistory.si.edu/onehundredyears/expeditions/bikini.html/ |title = The Bikini Atoll Survey 'Operation Crossroads,' 1946-47 |accessdate = 2018-09-03 |author = Ewing, Heather |date = 2010 |publisher = National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution |archive-date = 2018-10-24 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181024201642/https://naturalhistory.si.edu/onehundredyears/expeditions/bikini.html |url-status = dead }}</ref> Bayer also spent several months doing field research throughout the rest of Micronesia.<ref name=bg/>

Bayer wrote over 130 scholarly papers on the history and taxonomy of soft coral.<ref name=bg/> He focused much of his soft coral research on octocorals, which include sea fans and sea whips.<ref name=bg/> He discovered 170 new species of marine life, 40 new genera, and three new families.<ref name=bg/>

Japan's Emperor Hirohito, also a marine biologist, named a hydroid, ''Hydractinia bayeri'', in Bayer's honor.<ref name=bg/> Bayer returned the favor while Hirohito was on a state visit to Washington, D.C. in 1975. He presented Hirohito with a rare snail shell which was the "size of a hat."<ref name=bg/>

Bayer served as a member of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature from 1972 to 1995.<ref name=bg/>

He was also an accomplished biological illustrator. Bayer painted and designed a total of 14 scientifically accurate marine scenes. These particular scenes were used for a set of Haitian postage stamps in 1973.<ref name=bg/>

==Death== Frederick Bayer died of congestive heart failure on October 2, 2007, at Washington Home hospice in Washington, D.C. at the age of 85.<ref name=bg/>

== Taxa named in honor == Taxa named in honor of Frederick Bayer include: * ''Bayerxenia'' Alderslade, 2001<ref name="Cairns 2008">Cairns S. D. (2008). "Frederick M. Bayer – Commissioner 1972-1995, octocoral taxonomist and Smithsonian curator". ''Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature'' '''65'''(2): [https://web.archive.org/web/20080913101530/http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted_sites/iczn/BZNJune2008general_articles.html 86-87]. </ref> * ''Bayericerithium'' Petuch, 2001<ref name="Cairns 2008"/> * ''Bayerotrochus'' Harasewych, 2002<ref name="Cairns 2008"/> * ''Bayergorgia'' Williams & López-González, 2005<ref name="Cairns 2008"/> * ''Hydractinia bayeri'' Hirohito, 1984<ref name="Cairns 2008"/>

== Taxa named by him == Taxa named by Frederick Bayer include:

gastropods: * ''Babelomurex fax'' (F. M. Bayer, 1971) * ''Babelomurex sentix'' (Bayer, 1971) * ''Bayerotrochus midas'' (Bayer, 1965) * ''Bayerotrochus pyramus'' (Bayer, 1967) * ''Cyomesus chaunax'' (Bayer, 1971) and ''Teramachia chaunax'' Bayer, 1971 are synonyms of ''Latiromitra cryptodon'' (P. Fischer, 1882)<ref>Kantor, Y.; Gofas, S. (2010). ''Latiromitra cryptodon''. In: Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S.; Rosenberg, G. (2010) World Marine Mollusca database. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=141851 on 2011-09-12</ref> * ''Lyria cordis'' Bayer, 1971 * ''Peristarium'' Bayer, 1971 * ''Peristarium aurora'' (Bayer, 1971) * ''Peristarium electra'' (Bayer, 1971) * ''Peristarium merope'' (Bayer, 1971) * ''Perotrochus amabilis'' (Bayer, 1963) * ''Perotrochus lucaya'' Bayer, 1965 * ''Scaphella evelina'' Bayer, 1971 * ''Siphonochelus tityrus'' (Bayer, 1971) * ''Thelyssa'' Bayer, 1971 * ''Thelyssa callisto'' Bayer, 1971 * ''Volutomitra erebus'' Bayer, 1971 * ''Volutomitra persephone'' Bayer, 1971

bivalves: * ''Amphichama inezae'' (F. M. Bayer, 1943)

== See also == Other malacologists named Bayer include: * Charles Gustave François Hubert Bayer (1887-1956) from Netherlands<ref name="Coan 2011">Coan E. V., Kabat A. R. & Petit R. E. (15 February 2011). [http://www.malacological.org/publications/2400_malacology.php ''2,400 years of malacology, 8th ed.''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111161316/http://www.malacological.org/publications/2400_malacology.php |date=November 11, 2012 }}, 936 pp. + 42 pp. [Annex of Collations]. American Malacological Society</ref> * L. Bayer from Belgium/Africa<ref name="Coan 2011"/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

== External links == * [http://invertebrates.si.edu/bayer.htm portrait of Frederick Bayer] * [http://invertebrates.si.edu/pdfs/Bayer_fullpubs.pdf publication list] * [http://invertebrates.si.edu/FMBayer.htm obituary of Frederick Bayer] at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, Department of Invertebrate Zoology website

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bayer, Frederick}} Category:1921 births Category:2007 deaths Category:20th-century American zoologists Category:American curators Category:American malacologists Category:American marine biologists Category:American stamp designers Category:George Washington University alumni Category:People from Asbury Park, New Jersey Category:Smithsonian Institution people Category:United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Category:United States Army Air Forces soldiers Category:University of Miami alumni Category:University of Miami faculty