Wolf, Frederick A. (Frederick Adolph), 1885-1975

Frederick A. Wolf (1885-1975) served as Professor of Botany at Duke University from 1927 until his retirement in 1954. His research focused on tobacco agriculture and pathology.

From the description of Frederick A. Wolf papers, 1917-1975. (Duke University Library). WorldCat record id: 55635822

Frederick Adolphus Wolf served as a James B. Duke Professor of Botany at Duke University from 1927 until his retirement in 1956. He was born in Odell, Nebraska in 1885, and received his bachelor's degree (1907) and master's degree (1908) from the University of Nebraska. After teaching botany at the University of Texas for three years, Wolf earned his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1911.

His early career included plant pathology research work at the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station and at the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station. He joined the Botany faculty at Duke University in 1927. In 1965, he received the North Carolina Gold Medal, the state's highest honor, which recognized him for his research with tobacco. Two years later, the Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture honored Wolf for his contributions to the tobacco industry. In 1968, Wolf was given the Fellow Award of the Department of Plant Pathology of the American Phytopathological Society, and in 1970, he was named one of Tobacco's Men of the Year.

Wolf's research focused on aromatic tobacco, and he discovered that the aroma came from living hairs covering both sides of the plant's leaves. He was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Phytopathological Society, and the Botanical Society of America. He authored numerous scholarly articles and several books, including The Fungi: An introduction to their structure and classification (1947), Tobacco Diseases and Decays (1957), and Aromatic or Oriental Tobaccos (1962). Frederick Wolf died in 1975, at age 90.

From the guide to the Frederick A. Wolf Papers, ., 1917 - 1975, (University Archives, Duke University)