Ronald John Johnston,

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

FAcSS The Fellowship of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) is an award granted by the Academy of Social Sciences to leading academics, policy-makers, and practitioners of the social sciences. Fellows were previously known as Academicians and used the ...

, FBA (March 30, 1941 – May 29, 2020) was a British geographer, known for elaborating his discipline's foundations, particularly its history and nature, and for his contributions to urban social geography and electoral geography.British Academy Fellows Archive
/ref>Sidaway, J. (2009): Johnston, R. J. In: International Encyclopedia of Human Geography: 11–13. Elsevier (Amsterdam). His broad scope is illustrated by the fact that he made extensive use of quantitative methods, while critically dealing with subjects of social and political relevance. Johnston authored or co-authored more than 50 books and 800 papers, and edited or co-edited a further more than 40 books (if translated and revised editions are counted separately).Professor Johnston receives a lifetime achievement award
Announcement by the University of Bristol. Published 3 December 2009, retrieved 3 February 2010List of publications
as of 2009 He edited ''The Dictionary of Human Geography'' and for the first four editions was its main editor.

Academic career

After receiving his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Manchester in 1962 and 1964, respectively, he moved to Monash University in Melbourne,

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. There, Johnston obtained a PhD degree, and came in contact with what has become known as the

quantitative revolution The quantitative revolution (QR) was a paradigm shift that sought to develop a more rigorous and systematic methodology for the discipline of geography. It came as a response to the inadequacy of regional geography to explain general spatial dynam ...

of geography. He also wrote his first paper on urban social geography during that time. From 1967–1974, he was part of the academic staff at the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...

in Christchurch, New Zealand, where his interest in electoral geography began to develop. Johnston then was appointed professor at the University of Sheffield. In 1979, ''Geography and Geographers'', which he updated and expanded every few years, and whose various editions have been translated into four languages, was published. Johnston became co-editor of the two journals

Progress in Human Geography ''Progress in Human Geography'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal that covers the field of human geography, primarily publishing critical reviews of current research. The journal's editor-in-chief is Noel Castree. It was established in ...

and

Environment and Planning A The ''Environment and Planning'' journals are five academic journals. They are interdisciplinary journals with a spatial focus of primary interest to human geographers and city planners. The journals are also of interest to the scholars of economi ...

that same year. In 1981, the first edition of ''The Dictionary of Human Geography'', to which Johnston contributed hundreds of articles, was published. It has maintained its status as the discipline's authoritative dictionary ever since. After serving as pro-vice-chancellor for academic affairs of the University of Sheffield, he became vice-chancellor of the University of Essex in 1992.University of Essex Calendar
, retrieved on 22 February 2010 From 1995, Johnston was a professor at the University of Bristol. He retired from the editorial boards of both ''Progress in Human Geography'' and ''Environment and Planning A'' in 2006.

Recognition

Johnston was one of the most cited geographers for decades.In an analysis of citation records based on the SSCI and the

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, he was identified as the second most cited geographer for 1981–1985, and the third most cited one for 1986–1990 (Bodman, A. (1992): Holes in the Fabric. More on the Master Weavers in Human Geography. ''Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers'' 17 (1): 108–109). In another citation count that covered more than 20 years (1981 – October 2002), this time based on the SSCI and the A&HCI, Johnston was listed as one of twelve geographers who had been cited more than 1000 times (Yeung, H. W. (2002): Deciphering citations. ''Environment and Planning A'' 34 (12): 2093–2102). Among the most prestigious awards Johnston received were the Murchison Award (1985) and the Victoria Medal (1990) by the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

, the Prix Vautrin Lud at the International Geography Festival 1999, and a lifetime achievement award from the Association of American Geographers (2009). Furthermore, he held honorary doctorates from the University of Essex (D.Univ. 1996), Monash University (LL.D. 1999), the University of Sheffield (Litt.D. 2002) and the University of Bath (Litt.D. 2005). He was elected a founding Academician (later renamed fellow) of the

Academy of Social Sciences The Academy of Social Sciences is a representative body for social sciences in the United Kingdom. The Academy promotes social science through its sponsorship of the Campaign for Social Science, its links with Government on a variety of matters, a ...

(FAcSS) in 1999, and was elected an ordinary fellow of the British Academy in 1999. Johnston was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in the

2011 Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours 2011 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 11 June 2011 in the United Kingdom,United Kingdom: New Zealand,campanology, "Change-Ringing: the English Art of Bell-Ringing" and "An Atlas of Bells", and was co-compiler of three editions of " Dove’s Guide to the Church Bells of Britain". Johnston served as ringing master of the Sheffield Cathedral Company of Ringers from 1980 to 1992, as president of the Yorkshire Association of Change Ringers from 1990 to 1992, and as president of the

Central Council of Church Bell Ringers The Central Council of Church Bell Ringers (CCCBR) is an organisation founded in 1891 which represents ringers of church bells in the English style. It acts as a co-ordinating body for education, publicity and codifying change ringing rules, al ...

from 1993 to 1996.Bristol University website. Retrieved 01.06/20

Selected publications

Monographs

* Johnston, R. J. (1971): Urban Residential Patterns: An Introductory Review. London (G . Bell & Sons). * Johnston, R. J. (1978): Multivariate Statistical Analysis in Geography: A Primer on the General Linear Model. London (Longman). * Taylor, P. J. and R. J. Johnston (1979): Geography of Elections. Harmondsworth (Penguin). * Johnston, R. J. (1979): Geography and Geographers: Anglo-American Human Geography since 1945. London (Edward Arnold). (7th edition announced for publication in 2010) * Johnston, R. J. (1991): A Question of Place: Exploring the Practice of Human Geography. Blackwell (Oxford).

Edited Collections

* Johnston, R .J. et al. (eds.) (1981): The Dictionary of Human Geography. Oxford (Blackwell). (5th edition published in 2009) * Johnston, R. J., P. J. Taylor and

Michael Watts Michael J. Watts (born 1951 in England) is Professor Emeritus of Geography at the University of California, Berkeley. He retired in 2016. He is a leading critical intellectual figure of the academic left. His first book, ''Silent Violence ...

(eds.) (1995): Geographies of Global Change: Remapping the World in the Late Twentieth Century. London (Blackwell).

Notes

References

External links

Biography
on the University of Bristol's website
Former Essex Vice-Chancellor and outstanding geographer dies aged 79

In Memoriam Ron Johnston

Ron Johnston British Academy Biographical Memoir
This provides a detailed biography by three researchers who had worked closely with him over many years, two of them are Fellows of the Academy. {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Ron J 1941 births 2020 deaths People from Swindon British geographers Alumni of the University of Manchester Academics of the University of Sheffield People associated with the University of Essex Academics of the University of Bristol Recipients of the Vautrin Lud International Geography Prize Fellows of the Academy of Social Sciences Fellows of the British Academy Officers of the Order of the British Empire Victoria Medal recipients