Francis Bertody Sumner

{{Short description|American ichthyologist, zoologist and writer}}

Francis Bertody Sumner (August 1, 1874 – September 6, 1945) was an American ichthyologist, zoologist and writer.{{cite journal|last=Hubbs|first= Carl L.|year=1945|title=Francis B. Sumner; 1874 - 1945 |journal= Copeia|volume= 4|pages= 183–184|jstor=1438348}}{{cite journal|last1=Provine|first1=William B.|title=Francis B. Sumner and the evolutionary synthesis|journal=Studies in History of Biology|year=1979|volume=3|pages=211–40|pmid=11610986}}

Sumner was born in Pomfret, Connecticut. He studied at the University of Minnesota and Columbia University where in 1901 he received a PhD with a thesis on fish embryology.Child, Charles Manning. (1948). [http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/sumner-francis.pdf Biographical Memoir of Francis Bertody Sumner]. In Biographical Memoirs. National Academy of Sciences 25: 147-173. He became the Director of the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries Laboratory at Woods Hole. He worked as a professor of biology at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.{{cite journal|last1=Huestis|first1=R. R.|title=Francis Bertody Sumner, 1874-1945|journal=Journal of Mammalogy|date=1946|volume=27|issue=1|pages=1–3|doi=10.2307/1375136|jstor=1375136}} Sumner was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1937 and the American Philosophical Society in 1938.{{Cite web |title=Francis Sumner |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/20000946.html |access-date=2023-05-15 |website=www.nasonline.org}}{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Francis+B.+Sumner&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2023-05-15 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}

Sumner collected many subspecies of Peromyscus in California. He also studied the pigments of fishes.