- Arthur H. Robinson
Arthur H. Robinson (
January 5 ,1915 –October 19 ,2004 ) was an Americangeographer andcartographer , who was professor in the Geography Department at theUniversity of Wisconsin in Madison from 1947 until he retired in 1980. He was a prolific writer and influential philosopher on cartography, and one of his most notable accomplishments is theRobinson projection in 1961.Biography
Arthur H. Robinson was born in
Montreal ,Quebec ,Canada to American parents. He lived inGreat Britain while he was young, and received his post-secondary education in the United States. His undergraduate work was done atMiami University of Ohio , obtaining a B.A. degree in 1936. He demonstrated an aptitude for cartography and began drawing maps for faculty textbooks [ [http://www.geography.wisc.edu/cartography/robinson.htm Robinson legacy] Retrieved 2 Sept 2008.] while earning a master's degree in geography from theUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison in 1938, and he earned his Ph.D. degree from theOhio State University in 1947. [Gregory H. Chu (2004). "Great geographers: Arthur H. Robinson.(Obituary)". In: "Focus on Geography". 22 dec 2004.] While atOhio State University , Robinson worked to solve problems in theMap communication model .During
World War II , Robinson served as director of the map division of theOffice of Strategic Services (OSS). In 1941, when Robinson joined OSS, there were no cartographers as we know them today. Robinson engaged geographers with some interest in mapping and the group developed their techniques on the job.Robinson, A. (1979). "Geography and Cartography then and now". Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 69(1), 97-102.] Robinson oversaw the creation of 5,000 hand-drawnmaps and attended theAllied conferences atQuebec andCairo in 1943 and 1944 as chief U.S. map officer. For his efforts Robinson received theLegion of Merit from theUnited States Army in 1946. Current Biography Yearbook. (1996). Arthur H. Robinson, 467-471.]In 1947 Robinson subsequently joined the geography department at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison , where he spent his career in academia and research. Robinson sought to establishcartography as a recognized discipline and ultimately the university granted both undergraduate and masters degrees in cartography. The Wisconsin cartography program has conferred more than 100 masters and 20 doctoral degrees, and many of the doctoral recipients created respected cartography programs at other universities. [Slocum, T.; McMaster, R.; Kessler, F.; & Howard, H. (2005) "Thematic Cartography and Geographic Visualization (2nd Edition)". Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. p. 24.] Today the map library at theUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison is named in his honor. [ [http://www.geography.wisc.edu/maplib/ Map library] at theUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison .]Robinson served as president of the
International Cartographic Association , and as vice president and president of theAssociation of American Geographers .Work
Robinson projection
One of Robinson's most notable accomplishments is the
Robinson projection . In 1961,Rand McNally asked Robinson to choose aprojection for use as a world map that, among other criteria, wasuninterrupted , had limiteddistortion , and was pleasing to the eye of general viewers. [Robinson, A. (1974). "A New Map Projection: Its Development and Characteristics". In: "International Yearbook of Cartography", pp. 145-155. pp. 147-148.] Robinson could not find a projection that satisfied the criteria, so Rand McNally commissioned him to design one.Robinson proceeded through an iterative process to create a
pseudo-cylindrical projection that intends to strike a compromise between distortions in areas and in distances, in order to attain a more natural visualization. The projection has been widely used since its introduction. In 1988,National Geographic adopted it for their world maps but replaced it in 1998 with theWinkel Tripel projection .See also
*
Gall-Peters projection
*Rand McNally
*Nicolas Auguste Tissot
*David Woodward Publications
Robinson produced over 60 articles for professional publications, as well as fifteen books and monographs. Books:
* 1952. "The Look of Maps". Madison:University of Wisconsin Press.
* 1976. "The Nature of Maps". With B. Petchenik. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
* 1982. "Early Thematic Mapping in the History of Cartography".
* 1995. "Elements of Cartography (6th Edition)". With A. Robinson, J. Morrison, P. Muehrke, A. Kimmerling & S. Guptill. New York: Wiley.References
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