Georg Friedrich (Georges-Frédéric) Parrot (July 5, 1767 - 1852) was an Estonian (French-Baltic German-Russian) scientist. The Baltic Germans (German: Deutsch-Balten, Deutschbalten, sometimes incorrectly Baltendeutsche), were ethnically German inhabitants of the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea which forms today the countries of Estonia and Latvia. ...

Geroges-Frédéric Parrot was born in Montbéliard, France. His father, a surgeon by profession and the local duke’s physician in ordinary, had a respectable position in the society becoming the mayor of his hometown. As the family was Protestants, they sent Georg Friedrich to study physics and mathematics in Stuttgart (1782-1786) rather than to some place in France. After graduation, Parrot took a position as a private tutor in Livonia, one of the Baltic provinces of the Russian Empire, in 1795. His reasons for leaving Germany were mainly economic: as he was recently married, he needed a more regular income than he could gain from giving occasional private classes in mathematics and attending to various contests of inventions. His talent was noticed and he was appointed to be the first secretary of the Livonian Charitable and Economic Society (Livländische gemeinnützige und ökonomische Sozietät) founded in 1796 in Riga, the capital of Livonia, for the promotion of science and new ideas of management. At that time, there was no longer a university in the region. Although King Gustavus II Adolphus had founded the University of Tartu in 1632 as a Swedish university, it had ceased to exist in 1710 when Peter the Great had conquered the Baltic Sea provinces. Only in 1802 was the university re-founded by the order of the Emperor Alexander I as the only German-language and Lutheran university inside the Russian Empire. Parrot was initially appointed to the Chair of Pure and Applied Mathematics but after defending his doctoral dissertation “On the influence of Physics and Chemistry on Pharmacy” (Über den Einfluss den Physic und Chemie auf die Arzneikunde) in 1802, he was appointed to the Chair of Physics. Montbéliard is a commune in the Doubs département of the Franche-Comté région, in eastern France. ... City Center seen from Weinsteige Road Stuttgart Palace Square - New Palace Solitude Palace The 1956 TV Tower U.S. Army Kelley Barracks Stuttgart [], located in southern Germany, is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg with a population of 591,528 (as of April 2006) in the city... Baltic Tribes, ca 1200 CE This article is about the region in Europe. ... Anthem God Save the Tsar! The Russian Empire in 1914 Capital Saint Petersburg Language(s) Russian Government Monarchy Emperor  - 1721-1725 Peter the Great (first)  - 1894-1917 Nicholas II (last) History  - Established 22 October, 1721  - February Revolution 2 March, 1917 Area  - 1897 22,400,000 km2 8,648,688 sq... Coordinates: Founded 1201 Government  - Mayor Jānis Birks Area  - City 307. ... Gustav II Adolph Gustav II Adolph (December 9, 1594 - November 6, 1632) (also known as Gustav Adolph the Great, under the Latin name Gustavus Adolphus or the Swedish form Gustav II Adolf) was a King of Sweden. ... The University of Tartu (Estonian: ; German: ) is a classical university in the city of Tartu Estonia. ... Peter I Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia Peter I (Pyotr Alekseyvich) (9 June 1672–8 February 1725 [30 May 1672–28 January 1725 O.S.1]) ruled Russia from 7 May (27 April O.S.) 1682 until his death. ... Aleksandr I Pavlovich (Russian: Александр I Павлович) (December 23, 1777–December 1, 1825?), was Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801-1 December 1825 and Ruler of Poland from 1815–1825, as well as the first Grand Duke of Finland. ... The Lutheran movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity by the original definition. ...

Due to his extraordinary energy, he became the first rector of the Imperial University of Dorpat, being elected by the University Council consisting of all chaired professors. In this capacity, Parrot skillfully fought for the academic freedom and the self-government of the university, protecting her from the political pressure of Baltic German barons who had been given the right to autonomously govern in the Baltic provinces. The university was re-opened on the initiative of the local aristocratic establishment but they disliked Parrot for his unconcealed sympathy to the ideals of the Enlightenment. Parrot openly talked about equality of people, irrespective of their social status and heritage. In his inaugural speech at the opening ceremony of the University he said, addressing the students:

While you are using with a laudatory diligence all that science and art are able to provide for the benefit of your culture, the countryman is working for you on his field; he is devoting his toil for you, working in the hardest conditions all his days, even part of the nights, and because of that he is enforced to fall behind you in his cultural development. [...] You understand that those who feed you are entitled to much more than merely a miserable existence, that they have every right to expect your gratitude, your respect, our gratitude, our respect. According to the memoirs of Parrot’s contemporaries, these words made an inextinguishable impression. However, Parrot’s hour of triumph arrived on May 22, 1802. The Emperor Alexander I stopped in Dorpat on his way to Memel (Klaipeda) for the meeting with the King Frederick William III of Prussia. Parrot was nominated to give a speech in his honour with which he immediately won the sympathy of the young ambitious emperor. Appealing to the ideal of enlightened monarchy, Parrot expressed his gratitude to the Emperor who had ordered the reopening of the university, and repeated the promise to honestly serve science and the whole humanity. Alexander was so delighted with Parrot’s eloquence that he asked him to prepare a written copy of his speech. This episode laid the foundations of a friendly relationship between the Emperor and Parrot, which lasted for ten years and proved to be extremely beneficial for the University, to say nothing about Parrot himself.

In 1811, Parrot was elected to be a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, becoming a full member in 1826. In the same year, he retired from the University of Dorpat and continued his work as a head of the physics laboratory of the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. He died on a trip to Helsingfors (Helsinki), in 1852. Founded 1550 Country Finland Province Southern Finland Region Uusimaa Sub-region Helsinki Area[1] - Of which land - Rank 185. ...