Albert Eide Parr

Albert Eide Parr (15 August 1900 – 16 July 1991) was a Norwegian-born marine biologist, zoologist and oceanographer. Parrosaurus missouriensis, a species of plant-eating dinosaur, is named after him.

Albert Eide Parr was born and grew up in Bergen, Norway. His father, Thomas Johannes Lauritz Parr, was a professor at Bergen Cathedral School. He became well acquainted with Jørgen Brunchorst, director at the Bergen Museum and developed an early interest in marine biology. He studied at the University of Oslo (1921–24) and graduated in 1925. He subsequently worked was an assistant in zoology at the Bergen Museum. In 1925, he was married to Ella Hage Hanssen (1900-1991), daughter of Peder Hansen, who was a member of the Parliament of Norway.

The couple traveled to the United States in 1926 where Parr is said to have found work "sweeping floors" New York Aquarium, in New York City. He met American millionaire Harry Payne Bingham and the two launched a series of marine biology expeditions that segued into the founding of the Bingham Oceanographic Laboratory at Yale University's Peabody Museum of Natural History, where Parr became Professor of Oceanography in 1938. From 1938 to 1942, Parr was director of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. From 1942 to 1959, he was Director of the American Museum of Natural History. Among his later research areas was the classification of Alepocephalidae fish.

Selected Works