Richard Hartshorne (December 12, 1899 – November 5, 1992) was a prominent

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

, and professor at the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

, who specialized in

economic An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

and

political geography Political geography is concerned with the study of both the spatially uneven outcomes of political processes and the ways in which political processes are themselves affected by spatial structures. Conventionally, for the purposes of analysis, po ...

and the philosophy of geography. He is known in particular for his methodological work ''The Nature of Geography'', published in 1939.

Biography

Born in

Kittanning, Pennsylvania Kittanning ( pronounced ) is a borough in, and the county seat of, Armstrong County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is situated northeast of Pittsburgh, along the east bank of the Allegheny River. The name is derived from ''Kithanink' ...

, Hartshorne completed his undergraduate studies at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

in 1920, and his doctorate at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

in 1924. His dissertation was titled The Lake traffic of Chicago. Hartshorne taught at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

from 1924 to 1940, and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1945 to 1970. In the war-time interruption from 1941 to 1945 he established and ran the Geography Division in the branch of Research and Analysis of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Hartshorne was president of the

Association of American Geographers The American Association of Geographers (AAG) is a non-profit scientific and educational society aimed at advancing the understanding, study, and importance of geography and related fields. Its headquarters is located in Washington, D.C. Th ...

in 1949. The association gave him its top award in 1960. He was also awarded a Doctor of Laws (''honoris causa'') from Clark University, April 17, 1971, and the Victoria medal from 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 ...

in 1984. He died of cancer at his home in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

. Among his brothers was the prominent American philosopher

Charles Hartshorne Charles Hartshorne (; June 5, 1897 – October 9, 2000) was an American philosopher who concentrated primarily on the philosophy of religion and metaphysics, but also contributed to ornithology. He developed the neoclassical idea of God and ...

Work

Hartshorne's 1939 book ''The Nature of Geography: A Critical Survey of Current Thought in the Light of the Past'', reflected his concern that geographers, as scientists and scholars, should familiarize themselves with, and take account of, past work in their field. The book itself became a standard in the field and remained in print for decades; the seventh edition was published in 2000. In the 1950s Hartshorne was part of a key geographical debate over the nature of the subject. Fred K. Schaefer called for the adoption of the 'scientific method' and study of spatial laws and criticised the 'old method' promoted by Hartshorne as the 'Hartshornian orthodoxy'. His 1970 book ''The Academic Citizen: Selected Statements by Richard Hartshorne'' with introduction and notes by Mark Hoyt Ingraham,"Mark H. Ingraham, emeritus professor of mathematics, long time dean of the College of Letters and Science, and former national president of the AAUP...." — page vi of the preface. contains various statements on academic issues, authored (in some cases, co-authored) by Hartshorne, from the late 1940s through the 1960s, his pre-emeritus years at the University of Wisconsin.

Publications

Books, a selection: * 1939. ''The Nature of Geography: A Critical Survey of Current Thought in the Light of the Past'' * 1959. ''Perspective on the Nature of Geography'' * 1970. ''The Academic Citizen: Selected Statements by Richard Hartshorne''. University of Wisconsin Articles, a selection * 1927. "Location as a Factor in Geography", ''Annals of the Association of American Geographers'', Vol. 17, No. 2 (Jun., 1927), pp. 92–99 * 1933. "Geographic and Political Boundaries in Upper Silesia", ''Annals of the Association of American Geographers'', Vol. 23, No. 4 (Dec., 1933), pp. 195–228. * 1935. (and Samuel N. Dicken) "A Classification of the Agricultural Regions of Europe and North America on a Uniform Statistical Basis", ''Annals of the Association of American Geographers'', Vol. 25, No. 2 (Jun., 1935), pp. 99–120. * 1935. "Recent Developments in Political Geography, I", ''The American Political Science Review'', Vol. 29, No. 5 (Oct., 1935), pp. 785–804. * 1935. "Recent Developments in Political Geography, II", ''The American Political Science Review'', Vol. 29, No. 6 (Dec., 1935), pp. 943–966. * 1938. "Six Standard Seasons of the Year", ''Annals of the Association of American Geographers'', Vol. 28, No. 3 (Sep., 1938), pp. 165–178. * 1940. "The Concepts of 'Raison d'Être' and 'Maturity' of States; Illustrated from the Mid-Danube Area", ''Annals of the Association of American Geographers'', vol. 30, pp. 59–60; 1940. * 1941. "The Politico-Geographic Pattern of the World", ''Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science'', Vol. 218, Public Policy in a World at War (Nov., 1941), pp. 45–57. * 1958. "The Concept of Geography as a Science of Space, from Kant and Humboldt to Hettner", ''Annals of the Association of American Geographers'', Vol. 48, No. 2 (Jun., 1958), pp. 97–108. * 1960. "Political Geography in the Modern World", ''The Journal of Conflict Resolution'', Vol. 4, No. 1, The Geography of Conflict (Mar., 1960), pp. 52–66.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartshorne, Richard 1899 births 1992 deaths People from Kittanning, Pennsylvania American geographers Presidents of the American Association of Geographers Human geographers Victoria Medal recipients 20th-century geographers

Biography

Work

Publications

See also

References