Parr, Geoffrey 1899 - 1961

(1899-1961), electrical engineer

Geoffrey Parr was born in Muswell Hill, London, on 29 December 1899. He was educated at Finsbury Technical College, receiving his college certificate in electrical engineering in 1917. Between 1917 and 1919, he worked as a technical assistant for the Admiralty in Portsmouth. He returned to London in 1919 to take up the post of lecturer and demonstrator at the City and Guilds Technical College.

In 1926, Parr joined the Edison Swan Electric Company as a research engineer in the Valve Department. He was promoted to Head of Technical Services in the Radio Division in 1932. In the 1940s, he turned to technical journalism and publishing, serving as Editor of the Electrical Engineering journal between 1941 and 1949, and later Technical Editor of the science and technology publishing house Chapman and Hall, Ltd, a position he held until his death. He also became a Fellow of the Television Society in 1934, the honorary editor of its journal from 1944, and was elected its honorary secretary in 1945.

During the interwar period, Parr developed a close friendship with neurophysiologist William Grey Walter (1910-1977) and corresponded closely with him regarding the technical aspects of his research in electroencephalography (the measurement of the electrical activity of the brain) at the Burden Neurological Institute, Bristol.

Parr died on 30 May 1961.