author
Wallace Walter Atwood
1872–1949
A leading American geographer and geologist, he helped shape how geography was taught in the United States and later guided Clark University as its president. His career joined field science, teaching, and academic leadership in a way that left a lasting mark on both geology and higher education.
1 Audiobook
The Geography of the Region about Devil's Lake and the Dalles of the Wisconsin With Some Notes on Its Surface Geology
by Rollin D. Salisbury, Wallace Walter Atwood
About the author
Born in Chicago on October 1, 1872, Wallace Walter Atwood became known as an American geographer and geologist with a strong gift for teaching as well as research. He studied at the University of Chicago and built an academic career that brought him into some of the major conversations in geography and earth science in the early twentieth century.
Atwood taught and wrote widely, and he became especially associated with physiography, geomorphology, and geography education. He served on the faculty at Harvard before going on to lead Clark University, where he became president in 1920. During his years there, he played an important role in developing Clark's Graduate School of Geography and in strengthening the university's reputation in the field.
He died on July 24, 1949, in Annisquam, Massachusetts. Remembered as both a scientist and an educator, Atwood stands out as a figure who helped bring geography into wider academic prominence in the United States.