William Morris Davis

He was born into a Quaker family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, son of Edward M. Davis[?] and Martha Mott Davis[?] (a daughter of the women's advocated Lucretia Mott). He graduated from Harvard University in 1869 and received a Master of Engineering[?] in the following year. He then worked in Cordoba, 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.

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.

Later, after Ellen died, Davis married Mary M. Wyman[?] of Cambridge, Massachusetts (1914), and she having died also, Lucy L. Tennant[?] of Milton, Massachusetts[?] (1928), who survived him.

He died in Pasadena, California.

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 Physical Geography of the Lands", Popular Science Monthly[?] 2: pp. 157-170 (1900)
• "The geographical cycle", Geographical Journal[?], vol. 14, pp. 481-504

Reference

• Richard Chorley[?], R. P. Beckinsale[?], and A. J. Dunn[?], The History of the Study of Landforms, Vol 2, The Life and Work of William Morris Davis (Methuen[?], 1973)

External links

• William Morris Davis: No Erosion of Impact (http://wwwstage.valpo.edu/geomet/histphil/test/davis)