author
Wallace Walter Atwood
1872–1949
A leading American geographer and geologist, he helped shape how generations of students pictured the physical world. He also spent more than two decades as president of Clark University, guiding the school through a long period of growth and change.
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 in 1872, Wallace Walter Atwood studied at the University of Chicago, earning his bachelor's degree in 1897 and his doctorate in 1903. He went on to teach geology and physiography at the University of Chicago and later at Harvard, building a reputation as an influential scholar of landforms and physical geography.
In 1920, he became president of Clark University, a role he held until 1946. Alongside his academic leadership, he wrote widely used textbooks and other works on geography, helping bring earth science to large numbers of students and general readers.
Atwood died in 1949. He is remembered both as a scientist and as an educator whose teaching, writing, and university leadership left a lasting mark on American geography.