Michael John Wise CBE, MC (17 August 1918 – 13 October 2015) was a British academic who served as a professor of geography at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

Early life

Michael Wise was born in

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in th ...

in 1918, son of Harry Cuthbert Wise and Sarah Evelyn Wise.

Education

After attending Saltley Secondary School, Birmingham, he attended the

University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

where he completed his BA in Geography in 1939. After war service he returned to Birmingham as an assistant lecturer and lecturer, gaining a

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in 1951. It was at this point that he met Gordon Warwick, a fellow assistant lecturer, who became a lifelong friend, with Wise being godfather to the latter's daughter. They later collaborated on the British Association Handbook for the Birmingham meeting. St Barnabas, Erdington church register.

War service

During the second world war Wise served in the British Army in Europe and the Middle East, reaching the rank of Major in 1944. He was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC ...

Career

On completion of his PhD in 1951, Wise moved to the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 milli ...

as lecturer, becoming Sir Ernest Cassel

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Economic geography Economic geography is the subfield of human geography which studies economic activity and factors affecting them. It can also be considered a subfield or method in economics. There are four branches of economic geography. There is, primary sect ...

in 1954 and Professor in 1958. During the student disturbances of 1968 he defended the treasures of the LSE Map Room and negotiated their exemption from occupation during a sit-in. Wise served as member, president etc. of many learned societies including the

British Association for the Advancement of Science The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chi ...

, the Transport Studies Society,

International Geographical Union The International Geographical Union (IGU; french: Union Géographique Internationale, UGI) is an international geographical society. The first International Geographical Congress was held in Antwerp in 1871. Subsequent meetings led to the estab ...

, Geographical Association and

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 ...

. He died on 13 October 2015 at the age of 97.

Honours

Wise received the RGS Gill Memorial award (1958) and Founder's Medal (1977) and also the Alexander Körōsi Csoma Medal of the Hungarian Geographical Society (1980), the Tokyo Geographical Society Medal (1981) and the Lauréat d’Honneur of the IGU (1984). He received the CBE in 1979. The University of Birmingham awarded him an honorary DSc in 1982. In 2008 his 90th birthday was marked by a gathering of colleagues and former students at SE

References

1918 births 2015 deaths British Army officers Military personnel from Staffordshire Academics of the London School of Economics Academics of the University of Birmingham Academics of the University of London Alumni of the University of Birmingham British Army personnel of World War II Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society People educated at Saltley Grammar School People from Stafford Presidents of the International Geographical Union Presidents of the Royal Geographical Society Recipients of the Military Cross {{UK-academic-stub