Bowman, Isaiah

Isaiah Bowman, (born Dec. 26, 1878, Waterloo, Ont., Can.—died Jan. 6, 1950, Baltimore), geographer and educator who helped establish the American Geographical Society’s international standing during his 20 years as its director.

A graduate of Harvard University (1905), Bowman received his Ph.D. from Yale University (1909), where he taught from 1905 to 1915. His Forest Physiography (1911), the first comprehensive work published on American physiographic divisions, and extensive field studies in the Andes mountains (1907, 1911, 1913) established him professionally.

As director of the American Geographical Society (1915–35), he enlarged both the membership and the staff and launched a 25-year project to map the American continents south of the United States. Studies of pioneer settlements and polar geography were but two of the many other programs he fostered. Bowman served as president of Johns Hopkins University from 1935 to 1948; under his administration, departments of geography, oceanography, and aeronautics were established at Johns Hopkins.

A territorial adviser to President Woodrow Wilson at the Paris Peace Conference (1918–19), Bowman also was frequently consulted by President Franklin Roosevelt on matters of scientific and national policy. The best-known of Bowman’s many writings is The New World: Problems in Political Geography (4th ed., 1928).