Isaiah Bowman

aiah Bowman was born in Ontario, Canada, and educated at Harvard and Yale universities. While attending Yale, he led the first South American Yale expedition. It was an adventure that greatly influenced his later contributions to the field of geography. In 1911 Bowman served as geographer-geologist afficher plus on a Yale expedition to Peru. That same year, he published his book Forest Physiography, which offered the first in-depth study of the relief, climate, vegetation, and soils of the United States. He was especially interested in what he called the pioneer fringe, the area between early America's wilderness and civilization. In 1931 he published a book titled The Pioneer Fringe, the first of a series on world frontier areas. In 1915 Bowman became the director of the American Geographical Society. At that time, the Society was a small, relatively unknown organization, but under Bowman's direction, it became a highly respected center for geographic research and scholarship. Bowman initiated a 25-year study by the Society to map the region known as Hispanic America. At the end of World War I, Bowman traveled to the Versailles peace conference as President Woodrow Wilson's territorial adviser to help draw the postwar boundaries of European nations. During World War II, he was once again a territorial adviser, this time for the United States State Department. From 1935 to 1948, he was president of Johns Hopkins University, which renamed its geography department in his honor. A member and officer of many geographic and related clubs, boards, associations, and groups, he was considered one of the greatest modern authorities on political geography. Bowman died in 1950. (Bowker Author Biography) afficher moins