Geographers: Biobibliographical Studies, Volume 36 focuses on 20th-century Britain and 19th- and 20th-century France. Six essays on individual geographers are complemented by a group article which describes the building of a French school of geography. From Britain, the life of Sir Peter Hall, one of the most distinguished geographers of recent times and a man widely known outside the discipline, is set alongside memoirs of Bill Mead, who made the rich geography of the Nordic countries come alive to geographers and others in the Anglophone world; Michael John Wise and Stanley Henry Beaver, who made their mark through building up the institutions where academic geography was practised and through teaching; and Anita McConnell, whose geographical training shaped her museum curation and studies of the history of science. From France, the individual biography of André Meynier is juxtaposed with group article on the first five professors of geography at Clermont-Ferrand. These intellectual biographies collectively show geography and geographers profoundly affected by wider historical events: the effect of war, particularly the Second World War, and the shaping of post-war society. They show the value of geographical scholarship in elucidating local circumstances and in planning national conditions, and as a basis for local, national, and international friendship.
List of Contributors 1. Introduction: Retrospect and Prospect of our Discipline’s Biographical Record - Elizabeth Baigent (University of Oxford, UK) and André Reyes Novaes (Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) 2. Sir Peter Geoffrey Hall (1932-2014) - Michael Hebbert (University College London, UK) 3. Michael John Wise (1918-2015) - Ron Johnston (University of Bristol, UK) and Christopher Board (Independent Scholar, UK) 4. William Richard Mead (1915-2014) - Hugh Clout (University College London, UK) and Michael Jones (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway) 5. Stanley Henry Beaver (1907-1984) - Hugh Clout (University College London, UK) 6. Anita McConnell (1936-2016) - Elizabeth Baigent (University of Oxford, UK) 7. André Meynier (1901-1983) - Hugh Clout (University College London, UK) 8. The First Five Professors of Geography at Clermont-Ferrand: Philippe Arbos (1882-1956), Lucien Gachon (1894-1984), Max Derruau (1920-2004), Pierre Estienne (1923-1996), André Fel (1926-2009) - Hugh Clout (University College London, UK) Index
Elizabeth Baigent is University Reader in the History of Geography at the University of Oxford, UK. She is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, the Royal Historical Society, the Royal Geographical Society, and the Higher Education Academy. André Reyes Novaes is Adjunct Professor in the Department of Human Geography and Co-ordinator of the Postgraduate Programme in Geography at the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
