Everything about William Morris Davis totally explained
William Morris Davis (
February 12 1850 -
February 5 1934) was an
American geographer,
geologist, and
meteorologist, often called the "father of American
geography".
He was born into a
Quaker family in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, son of Edward M. Davis and
Maria Mott Davis (a daughter of the women's advocate
Lucretia Mott). He graduated from
Harvard University in
1869 and received a
Master of Engineering in the following year.
He then worked in
Córdoba, Argentina for three years, then after working as an assistant to
Nathaniel Shaler, he became an instructor in geology at Harvard, in
1879. (Davis never completed his PhD.) He married
Ellen B. Warner of
Springfield, Massachusetts in the same year.
His most influential scientific contribution was the
cycle of erosion, first defined around
1884, which was a model of how
rivers create
landforms. Though the cycle is considered overly simplistic today, it was a crucial early contribution to
geomorphology.
It suggests that (larger) rivers have three main sections: upper course, middle course, and lower course - each of which has distinct landforms and other properties associated with it.
He was a founder of the
Association of American Geographers in
1904, and heavily involved with the
National Geographic Society in its early years, writing a number of articles for the magazine.
Davis retired from Harvard in
1911. After his first wife died, Davis married
Mary M. Wyman of
Cambridge, Massachusetts in
1914, and, after her death, he married
Lucy L. Tennant of
Milton, Massachusetts
in
1928, who survived him.
He died in
Pasadena, California, shortly before his 84th birthday.
Books
- Geographical Essays (Boston: Ginn, 1909)
Articles
"Geographic methods in geologic investigations", National Geographic Magazine 1: pp. 11-26 (1888)
"The Rivers and Valleys of Pennsylvania", National Geographic Magazine 1: pp. 183-253 (1889)
"The geographical cycle", Geographical Journal, vol. 14, pp. 481-504 (1899)
"The Physical Geography of the Lands", Popular Science Monthly 2: pp. 157-170 (1900)Further Information
Get more info on 'William Morris Davis'.
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