Introduction William Morris Davis was born on February 12, 1850. His father Edward M. Davis was a Philadelphia businessman with interests in railroads, mines, and the textile trade and his motherMaria (Mott) Davis was the daughter of Lucretia Mott, advocate of women’s rights and a strong opponent of slavery. Davis earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering from Harvard. From 1870 to 1873 he worked in meteorological observatory in Argentina and then returned to Harvard to study geology and physical geography. In 1878, he was appointed as an instructor in physical geography at Harvard and by 1885 became a full professor (Daly 1944).
Davis contributed in the field of physical geography and geomorphology, not only that he also helped to establish geography as an academic discipline in America that is why he is also called “Father of American Geography”. Davis brought geographers together through his enterprise the “Association of American Geographers” which was founded in 1904. Geographical cycle was his most influential scientific contribution. Geographical cycle is a cycle of erosion mainly occurs in three states namely youthful, mature and old age stages, each stage has its distinct landforms and properties. His geographical cycle is a …show more content…
Although he has done lots of work on meteorology in the beginning, he is best known for his theory of “Cycle of Erosion”. In meteorology, he wrote about eighty articles and published a textbook in 1894. He covered wide variety of topics of meteorology including weather forecasting, tornadoes and the heat budget of the Erath. He focused himself in geomorphology and stopped teaching meteorology in 1896. Unlike the geologist of that time who was concentrated on stratigraphy and petrology, Davis was interested with the physical geography especially on roles of streams and glaciers in shaping the landscape (Orme, 2007,p.
Davis contributed in the field of physical geography and geomorphology, not only that he also helped to establish geography as an academic discipline in America that is why he is also called “Father of American Geography”. Davis brought geographers together through his enterprise the “Association of American Geographers” which was founded in 1904. Geographical cycle was his most influential scientific contribution. Geographical cycle is a cycle of erosion mainly occurs in three states namely youthful, mature and old age stages, each stage has its distinct landforms and properties. His geographical cycle is a …show more content…
Although he has done lots of work on meteorology in the beginning, he is best known for his theory of “Cycle of Erosion”. In meteorology, he wrote about eighty articles and published a textbook in 1894. He covered wide variety of topics of meteorology including weather forecasting, tornadoes and the heat budget of the Erath. He focused himself in geomorphology and stopped teaching meteorology in 1896. Unlike the geologist of that time who was concentrated on stratigraphy and petrology, Davis was interested with the physical geography especially on roles of streams and glaciers in shaping the landscape (Orme, 2007,p.