Theo Holm facts for kids

Herman Theodor "Theo" Holm (born February 3, 1854 – died December 26, 1932) was a scientist who studied plants. He was a botanist from Denmark who later became an American citizen. He also worked as an agriculturalist, studying farming, and a plant pathologist, looking at plant diseases.

Theo Holm mostly studied plants from very cold places like the Arctic. He also researched plants found in the Rocky Mountains in North America. His main work involved classifying plants (giving them names and grouping them) and studying their shapes and structures. He wrote more than 150 scientific papers. Some of his important works included a series called Studies on the Cyperaceae (a family of grass-like plants) and Medicinal Plants of North America.

About His Life

Herman Theodor Holm was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He loved studying plants from a young age. He went to the University of Copenhagen to study botany. His teacher was a famous professor named Eugenius Warming. Theo Holm finished his studies in 1880.

In 1882 and 1883, he joined an exciting trip. He was part of an expedition on a Danish ship called the Dijmphna. This journey went to the area between Russia and the North Pole. It was part of the First International Polar Year, a time when many countries worked together to explore the polar regions. During this trip, the ship got stuck in ice in the Kara Sea for a while.

He also explored the plants of West Greenland. In 1884, he helped Professor Eugenius Warming on the Fylla expedition. This trip helped them learn more about the plants growing in Greenland.

Theo Holm moved to the United States. He arrived in New York City on April 12, 1888. Soon after, he started working as an assistant botanist. He worked at the U.S. National Museum. In 1893, he became an American citizen.

From 1893 to 1897, he worked for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). He was an assistant pathologist, helping to study plant diseases. He earned his Ph.D. (a high-level university degree) in botany in 1902. He got this degree from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C..

After that, he moved to the countryside. He lived first in Brookland, D.C., and later in Clinton, Maryland. He continued to work as a botanist. He helped the Smithsonian Institution and the USDA with their plant research. In 1932, he joined the faculty (teaching staff) at the Catholic University of America. Sadly, he passed away soon after.

Plants Named After Him

Some plants are named to honor important scientists. A type of small-reed grass is named after Theo Holm. It is called Calamagrostis holmii. The scientist Johan Lange named it this way.

Important Scientific Papers

Theo Holm wrote many papers about his plant studies. Here are some of his important works:

• Novaia-Zemlia’s Vegetation (1885): This paper was about the plants found on Novaya Zemlya, an archipelago in the Arctic.
• Contributions to the knowledge of the germination of some North American plant (1891): This work looked at how some North American plants start to grow from seeds.
• Notes on the flowers of Anthoxanthum odoratum L. (1892): This paper focused on the flowers of a specific type of grass.
• Some new anatomical characters for certain Gramine (1903): This paper described new ways to identify certain grasses by looking at their internal structure.
• Commelinaceœ. Morphological and anatomical studies of the vegetative organs of some North and Central American species (1906): This study looked at the shapes and structures of plants from North and Central America in the Commelinaceae family.
• Contributions to the morphology, synonymy, and geographical distribution of arctic plants (1922): This paper added to our knowledge of Arctic plants. It covered their shapes, different names they might have, and where they grow.
• The vegetation of the alpine region of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado (1923): This work described the plants found in the high mountain areas of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.
• Hibernation and Rejuvenation, Exemplified by North American Herbs (1925): This paper explored how some North American plants survive winter and regrow. He listed all his papers on how American plants are shaped and structured in relation to their life cycles.