Johann Jacob Friedrich Wilhelm Parrot

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Johann Jacob Friedrich Wilhelm Parrot (14 October 1792 – 15 January 1841, Tartu) was a Baltic German naturalist and traveller.

Parrot was born in Karlsruhe. He studied medicine and natural science at the University of Dorpat and, in 1811, undertook an expedition to the Crimea and the Caucasus with Maurice Engelhardt. There he used a barometer to measure the difference in sea level between the Caspian Sea and Black Sea.

On his return he was appointed assistant doctor and, in 1815, surgeon in the Russian army. In 1816 and 1817, he visited the Alps and Pyrenees. In 1821, he was professor of physiology and pathology, then in 1826 professor of physics at the University of Dorpat, and in 1828 Parrot undertook another voyage to Kakhetia and Armenia. In 1837 he went to Tornio in northern Finland to observe oscillations of a pendulum and terrestrial magnetism. He invented a gasometer and a baro-thermometer. In Livonia he popularised the Catalonian sundial, a small, cylindrical, pocket-sized instrument, approximately 8 cm in length and 1.5 cm in diameter.

On 27 September 1829, Parrot, a pioneer of scientific mountaineering, whilst professor of physics of the University of Dorpat, reached the summit of Mount Ararat (5165 m) with Khachatur Abovian (the Armenian poet) and three other students.

Parrot died in Dorpat (Tartu). He was survived by his daughter, Anna Magaretha Parrot, who married Conrad Jacob Strauch. Their descendants now reside in Australia.