Ralph Stockman Tarr (January 15, 1864 – March 21, 1912) was an American geographer.

Biography

He was born at

Gloucester, Massachusetts Gloucester () is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It sits on Cape Ann and is a part of Massachusetts's North Shore. The population was 29,729 at the 2020 U.S. Census. An important center of the fishing industry and a ...

, and educated at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, where he graduated from the

Lawrence Scientific School The Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) is the engineering school within Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, offering degrees in engineering and applied sciences to graduate students admitted ...

in 1891, and worked as an assistant in geology from 1890 to 1891. Beginning in 1892, he served as assistant in geology at

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

, where he became professor of dynamic geology and physical geography from 1897 until his death. He was Assistant United States Fish Commissioner 1882-3 while he was connected with the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, and Assistant Geologist for the Texas Geological Survey in 1888 and 1891. He was in charge of the 1896 Cornell expedition to Greenland largely to study glaciology while being attached to the Peary expedition's goal to retrieve a large iron meteorite.Ralph Stockman Tarr obituary from journals.cambridge.org
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Writings

Besides acting as associate editor of the ''Bulletin of the American Geographical Society'' and the ''Journal of Geography'', he published: * ''Economic Geology of the United States'' (1893) * ''Economic Geology of the United States'' (1898) * ''Physical Geography of New York State'' (1902) * ''New Physical Geography'' (1903) * ''Geography of Science'' (1905), with C. A. McMurry Two posthumous publications were published: ''College Physiography'' (1914) and ''Alaskan Glacier Studies'' (1914), with Lawrence Martin.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tarr, Ralph Stockman American geographers People from Gloucester, Massachusetts 1864 births 1912 deaths American science writers Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences alumni American male journalists Cornell University faculty Presidents of the American Association of Geographers