Archie Carr was born in Mobile, Alabama, in 1909. As a young person he was fascinated with wild animals and natural history, and this love of nature eventually developed into a career. Carr obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 1937, and he was a member of the teaching faculty there from 1937. From 1937-1943, he was also an associate of the Museum of Comparative Zoology of Harvard University, mostly conducting work in taxonomy. From 1945-1949, he took a leave of absence from the University of Florida to teach biology (in fluent Spanish) at the Escuela Agricola Panamericana (Pan-American Agricultural College) in Honduras. Carr was also a renowned naturalist, an author of numerous scientific works as well as popular literature, and an effective advocate of the conservation of sea turtles and other wildlife.

Archie Carr's research, and passion, largely involved marine turtles. For most of his career he...