- William Morris Davis
William Morris Davis (
February 12 1850 -February 5 1934 ) was an Americangeographer ,geologist , andmeteorologist , often called the "father of Americangeography ".He was born into a
Quaker family inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania , son of Edward M. Davis andMaria Mott Davis (a daughter of the women's advocateLucretia Mott ). He graduated fromHarvard University in 1869 and received aMaster of Engineering in the following year.He then worked in
Córdoba, Argentina for three years, then after working as an assistant toNathaniel Shaler , he became an instructor in geology at Harvard, in 1879. (Davis never completed his PhD.) He marriedEllen B. Warner ofSpringfield, Massachusetts in the same year.His most influential scientific contribution was the
cycle of erosion , first defined around 1884, which was a model of howriver s createlandform s. Though the cycle is considered overly simplistic today, it was a crucial early contribution togeomorphology .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 theNational 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 ofCambridge, Massachusetts in 1914, and, after her death, he marriedLucy L. Tennant ofMilton, 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)References
*
Richard Chorley ,R. P. Beckinsale , andA. J. Dunn , "The History of the Study of Landforms", Vol 2, "The Life and Work of William Morris Davis" (Methuen , 1973)External links
* [http://wwwstage.valpo.edu/geomet/histphil/test/davis.html William Morris Davis: No Erosion of Impact]
* [http://www.staff.amu.edu.pl/~sgp/gw/wmd/wmdfig.html Stages in the fluvial cycle of erosion (illus.)]
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