Article

Timothy Richard Parsons

Published Online February 5, 2008

Last Edited December 16, 2013

Timothy Richard Parsons, biological oceanographer (b in Sri Lanka [Ceylon] 1 Nov 1932). He received his doctorate in biochemistry at McGill and worked as a research scientist in Nanaimo, BC, for 11 years, Secretariat of UNESCO, Paris, for 2 years, and professor of oceanography, UBC, 1971 to present.

Parsons, Timothy Richard

Timothy Richard Parsons, biological oceanographer (b in Sri Lanka [Ceylon] 1 Nov 1932). He received his doctorate in biochemistry at McGill and worked as a research scientist in Nanaimo, BC, for 11 years, Secretariat of UNESCO, Paris, for 2 years, and professor of oceanography, UBC, 1971 to present. His research is best known for studies on the Gulf of Alaska ecosystem and for the use of large experimental seawater enclosures to study biological effects of pollutants. He has published over 100 scientific papers and 2 well-known oceanographic texts. He was the organizer and chief scientist for the first Canadian transpacific oceanographic cruise on CNAV Endeavour, 1967. He was scientist-in-charge of the first successful application of commercial fertilizer to a large lake (Great Central Lake, BC) for sockeye salmon enhancement. He was elected fellow of the RSC in 1978.