The Cullum Geographical Medal is one of the oldest awards of the

American Geographical Society The American Geographical Society (AGS) is an organization of professional geographers, founded in 1851 in New York City. Most fellows of the society are Americans, but among them have always been a significant number of fellows from around the ...

. It was established in the will of George Washington Cullum, the vice president of the Society, and is awarded "to those who distinguish themselves by geographical discoveries or in the advancement of geographical science". It was first awarded in 1896 to

Robert Peary Robert Edwin Peary Sr. (; May 6, 1856 – February 20, 1920) was an American explorer and officer in the United States Navy who made several expeditions to the Arctic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known for, in Apri ...

. The gold medal was designed by

Lydia Field Emmet Lydia Field Emmet (January 23, 1866 – August 16, 1952) was an American artist best known for her work as a portraitist. She studied with, among others, prominent artists such as William Merritt Chase, Harry Siddons Mowbray, Kenyon Cox and To ...

. "On the front is the figure of a young man standing in the bow of a boat. He has thrown down his oars upon discovering land. He shades his eyes with his hand as the boat progresses through the waves. A sea gull, hovering, indicates the proximity of land. The whole is supposed to represent enterprise and the spirit of exploration. Inscribed on the face of the medal is: The American Geographical Society of New York." "The reverse, to typify achievement and award, bears a female figure – Columbia, the left hand resting on a globe and the right holding out a laurel wreath. Beneath the right arm is the tablet to bear the record of the achievement for which the award is made. On the side is the inscription: The Cullum Geographical Medal."

Recipients

Source
American Geographical Society
* 1896:

* 1897:

Fridtjof Nansen Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (; 10 October 186113 May 1930) was a Norwegian polymath and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He gained prominence at various points in his life as an explorer, scientist, diplomat, and humanitarian. He led the team t ...

* 1899: John Murray * 1901: Thomas C. Mendenhall * 1902: A. Donaldson Smith * 1903: Prince Luigi Amedeo * 1904:

Georg von Neumayer Georg Balthazar von Neumayer (21 June 1826 – 24 May 1909), was a German polar explorer and scientist who was a proponent of the idea of international cooperation for meteorology Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (wh ...

Sven Hedin Sven Anders Hedin, KNO1kl RVO,Wennerholm, Eric (1978) ''Sven Hedin – En biografi'', Bonniers, Stockholm (19 February 1865 – 26 November 1952) was a Swedish geographer, topographer, explorer, photographer, travel writer and illustrator ...

* 1906: Robert Bell,

Robert Falcon Scott Captain Robert Falcon Scott, , (6 June 1868 – c. 29 March 1912) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–1904 and the ill-fated ''Terra Nov ...

* 1908:

William Morris Davis William Morris Davis (February 12, 1850 – February 5, 1934) was an American geographer, geologist, geomorphologist, and meteorologist, often called the "father of American geography". He was born into a prominent Quaker family in Philadelphia, ...

* 1909:

Francisco Moreno Francisco Pascasio Moreno (May 31, 1852 – November 22, 1919) was a prominent explorer and academic in Argentina, where he is usually referred to as ''Perito'' Moreno (''perito'' means "specialist, expert"). Perito Moreno has been credited as on ...

Ernest Shackleton Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of A ...

* 1910: Hermann Wagner * 1911:

Jean-Baptiste Charcot Jean-Baptiste-Étienne-Auguste Charcot (15 July 1867 – 16 September 1936), born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, was a French scientist, medical doctor and polar scientist. His father was the neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot (1825–1893). Life Jean-Bap ...

* 1914:

John Scott Keltie Sir John Scott Keltie (29 March 1840 – 12 January 1927) was a Scottish geographer, best known for his work with the Royal Geographical Society. History Keltie was born in Dundee and attended school in Perth. He matriculated at the Univers ...

, Ellen Churchill Semple * 1917: George W. Goethals * 1918: Frederick Haynes Newell * 1919:

Emmanuel de Margerie Emmanuel Marie Pierre Martin Jacquin de Margerie ForMemRS (11 November 1862 – 20 December 1953) was a French geographer after whom the Margerie Glacier was named, which he visited in 1913. Awards and honours Margerie was awarded the Cullum Geog ...

Henry Fairfield Osborn Henry Fairfield Osborn, Sr. (August 8, 1857 – November 6, 1935) was an American paleontologist, geologist and eugenics advocate. He was the president of the American Museum of Natural History for 25 years and a cofounder of the American E ...

* 1921:

Albert I, Prince of Monaco Albert I (Albert Honoré Charles Grimaldi; 13 November 1848 – 26 June 1922) was Prince of Monaco from 10 September 1889 until his death. He devoted much of his life to oceanography, exploration and science. Alongside his expeditions, Albert ...

* 1922: Edward A. Reeves * 1924:

Jovan Cvijić Jovan Cvijić ( sr-cyr, Јован Цвијић, ; 1865 – 16 January 1927) was a Serbian geographer and ethnologist, president of the Serbian Royal Academy of Sciences and rector of the University of Belgrade. Cvijić is considered the ...

* 1925: Lucien Gallois, Harvey C. Hayes, Pedro C. Sánchez * 1929: Jean Brunhes, Alfred Hettner,

Hugh Robert Mill Hugh Robert Mill (28 May 1861 – 5 April 1950) was a British geographer and meteorologist who was influential in the reform of geography teaching, and in the development of meteorology as a science. He was President of the Royal Meteorologica ...

, Jules de Schokalsky * 1930: Curtis F. Marbut * 1931: Mark Jefferson * 1932: Bertram Thomas * 1935: Douglas Johnson * 1938: Louise Arner Boyd * 1939: Emmanuel de Martonne * 1940:

Robert Cushman Murphy The whaling ship, ''Daisy'', which Murphy traveled on to the Antarctic Robert Cushman Murphy (April 29, 1887 – March 20, 1973) was an American ornithologist and Lamont Curator of birds at the American Museum of Natural History. He went on nume ...

* 1943:

Arthur Robert Hinks Arthur Robert Hinks, CBE, FRS (26 May 1873 – 14 April 1945) was a British astronomer and geographer. As an astronomer, he is best known for his work in determining the distance from the Sun to the Earth (the astronomical unit) from 1900 to ...

* 1948: Hugh Hammond Bennett * 1950:

Hans Wilhelmsson Ahlmann Hans Jakob Konrad Wilhelmsson Ahlmann (14 November 1889 – 10 March 1974) was a Swedish geographer, glaciologist, and diplomat. Born in Karlsborg, Sweden, Ahlmann grew up in Stockholm. He studied with Professor Gerard De Geer at Stockholm Univer ...

* 1952: Roberto Almagià * 1954:

1953 British Mount Everest expedition The 1953 British Mount Everest expedition was the ninth mountaineering expedition to attempt the first ascent of Mount Everest, and the first confirmed to have succeeded when Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary reached the summit on 29 May 1953. ...

* 1956:

J. Russell Smith Joseph Russell Smith (February 3, 1874 – February 26, 1966) was an American geographer. He worked in the Department of Geography and Industry at the University of Pennsylvania and later the Columbia Business School where he chaired the economic ...

* 1958: C. W. Thornthwaite * 1959: Albert P. Crary * 1961:

Maurice Ewing William Maurice "Doc" Ewing (May 12, 1906 – May 4, 1974) was an American geophysicist and oceanographer. Ewing has been described as a pioneering geophysicist who worked on the research of seismic reflection and refraction in ocean basi ...

* 1962:

Richard Joel Russell Richard Joel Russell (16 November 1895 – 17 September 1971) was an American professor of physical geography and geology at the Louisiana State University who contributed to pioneering studies of long-term climatology and geomorphology. Russell w ...

* 1963:

Rachel Carson Rachel Louise Carson (May 27, 1907 – April 14, 1964) was an American marine biologist, writer, and conservation movement, conservationist whose influential book ''Silent Spring'' (1962) and other writings are credited with advancing the ...

* 1964: John Leighly * 1965: Kirtley F. Mather * 1967: Peter Haggett * 1968:

Luna Leopold Luna Bergere Leopold (October 8, 1915 – February 23, 2006) was a leading U.S. geomorphologist and hydrologist, and son of Aldo Leopold. He received a B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Wisconsin in 1936; an M.S. in physics-meteor ...

* 1969:

Neil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aeronautical engineer who became the first person to walk on the Moon in 1969. He was also a naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor. ...

Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin (; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission. As the Lunar Module ''Eagle'' pilot on the 1969 ...

, Michael Collins * 1973: Bruce Heezen * 1975: René Dubos * 1985: Chauncy Harris * 1987: Kenneth Hare,

Yi-Fu Tuan Yi-Fu Tuan (; December 5, 1930 – August 10, 2022) was a Chinese-born American geographer. He was one of the key figures in human geography and arguably the most important originator of humanistic geography. Early life and education Born in 1 ...

* 1989:

M. Gordon Wolman Markley Gordon Wolman (August 16, 1924 – February 24, 2010) was an American geographer, son of Abel Wolman. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He attended Haverford College before being drafted into the U.S. Navy during World War II. After the wa ...

* 1997: Melvin G. Marcus * 1999:

Jack Dangermond Jack Dangermond (born 1945) is an American billionaire businessman and environmental scientist, who co-founded, with Laura Dangermond, in 1969 the Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri), a privately held geographic information systems ...

, David Lowenthal * 2001:

Wilbur Zelinsky Wilbur Zelinsky (21 December 1921 – 4 May 2013) was an American cultural geographer. He was most recently a professor emeritus at Pennsylvania State University. He also created the Zelinsky Model of Demographic Transition. Background and educat ...

* 2009: Peter Smith, Matthew Henson * 2014: Lee Schwartz

Footnotes

Sources

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External links

* {{American Geographical Society, state=collapsed Awards established in 1896 Awards of the American Geographical Society 1896 establishments in the United States

Recipients

See also

Footnotes

Sources

Further reading

External links