{{Short description|American marine biologist}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} [[File:Kenneth Stafford Norris 1980.jpg|thumb|Kenneth Stafford Norris]] '''Kenneth Stafford Norris''' (August 11, 1924 – August 16, 1998)<ref>{{cite web|title=Kenneth S. Norris: Naturalist, Cetologist, Conservationist, 1924-1998|url=http://library.ucsc.edu/reg-hist/norris|publisher=University Library - UC Santa Cruz|accessdate=August 24, 2012}}</ref> was an American [[marine mammal]] [[marine biology|biologist]], conservationist, naturalist, and co-founder of [[SeaWorld]].
Norris did pioneering work on [[dolphin]] [[Animal echolocation|echolocation]].<ref name="silber">{{cite journal|last=Silber|first=Gregory K.|title=Remembering Dr. Kenneth Norris|journal=Marine Mammal Science|date=1 October 1999|volume=15|issue=4|pages=915–917|doi=10.1111/j.1748-7692.1999.tb00859.x}}</ref><ref name=nytimes>{{cite news|last=Fountain|first=Henry|title=Kenneth Norris, 95, Pioneer In Study of Marine Mammals|accessdate=July 6, 2012|newspaper=New York Times|date=August 23, 1998|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/23/us/kenneth-norris-95-pioneer-in-study-of-marine-mammals.html}}</ref> His conservation work included helping establish the [[University of California Natural Reserve System]] and work towards passage of the [[Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972|Marine Mammal Protection Act]].<ref name="silber"/> Norris was a professor at [[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]] and [[University of California, Santa Cruz|UC Santa Cruz]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Stephens|first=Tim|title=Kenneth Norris, world-renowned expert on whales and dolphins, dies at 74|url=http://www1.ucsc.edu/oncampus/currents/98-99/08-24/norris.htm|newspaper=Currents|date=August 24, 1998}}</ref>
Norris, [[Milton Shedd]], David Demott and [[George Millay]] co-founded SeaWorld. The four graduates of [[UCLA]] originally set out to build an underwater restaurant and marine life show.<ref name=nytimes.com>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/28/business/milton-shedd-79-co-founder-of-seaworld.html|title=Milton Shedd, 79, Co-Founder of SeaWorld|date=May 28, 2002|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=June 4, 2009|agency=Associated Press}}</ref> When the underwater restaurant concept was deemed unfeasible, they scrapped those plans and decided to build a park instead, and [[SeaWorld San Diego]] was opened on March 21, 1964.<ref name=nytimes.com />
==Selected bibliography== *{{cite book|title=The Porpoise Watcher|year=1974|isbn=9780393063851|last1=Norris|first1=Kenneth Stafford|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/ord00kenn}} *{{cite book|title=Dolphin Days: The Life & Times of the Spinner Dolphin|url=https://archive.org/details/dolphindayslifet00norr|url-access=registration|year=1991|isbn=9780380719655|last1=Norris|first1=Kenneth Stafford}}
===as editor=== *{{cite book|editor=Norris, Kenneth S.|title=Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises|series=Proceedings of the 1st International Symposium on Cetacean Research, held in August 1963 in Washington, D.C.; conducted by the American Institute of Biological Sciences|year=1966|publisher=University of California Press|postscript=; xv+789 pages, illus., maps, 26 cm.}}<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1017/S0030605300005615|title=Review of ''Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises'' edited by Kenneth S. Norris|year=1966 |last1=Matthews |first1=L. Harrison |author-link=L. Harrison Matthews |journal=Oryx |volume=8 |issue=6 |page=384 |s2cid=86561203 |doi-access=free }}</ref> {{ASIN|B0000CN4XU}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links and further reading== * ''[http://digitalcollections.ucsc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p265101coll13/id/3708 Kenneth S. Norris, naturalist, cetologist & conservationist, 1924-1998: an oral history biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121127051550/http://digitalcollections.ucsc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p265101coll13/id/3708 |date=November 27, 2012 }}.'' Interviewed by Randall Jarrell and Irene Reti. Regional History Project, University Library, UC Santa Cruz. 1999 * ''[http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mms.1999.15.issue-4/issuetoc Marine Mammal Science]'', Oct. 1999, v.15(4). Special issue remembering Dr. Norris. * [http://digitalcollections.ucsc.edu/cdm/search/collection/p265101coll25/searchterm/Norris,%20Kenneth%20S.%20%28Kenneth%20Stafford%29/mode/exact Photographs of Ken Norris from the UC Santa Cruz Library's Digital Collections] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150603055449/http://digitalcollections.ucsc.edu/cdm/search/collection/p265101coll25/searchterm/Norris,%20Kenneth%20S.%20%28Kenneth%20Stafford%29/mode/exact |date=June 3, 2015 }}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norris, Kenneth Stafford}} [[Category:1924 births]] [[Category:1998 deaths]] [[Category:American marine biologists]] [[Category:University of California, Santa Cruz faculty]] [[Category:University of California, Los Angeles faculty]] [[Category:20th-century American zoologists]] [[Category:SeaWorld San Diego]]
{{US-zoologist-stub}}