Cullum Geographical Medal
Encyclopedia
The Cullum Geographical Medal is one of the oldest awards of the American Geographical Society
. It was established in the will of Major General
George Washington Cullum
(1809–92), the vice president of the Society, and is awarded "to those who distinguish themselves by geographical discoveries or in the advancement of geographical science". It was first awarded in 1896 to Robert E. Peary
. The gold medal was designed by Lydia Field Emmet
.
American Geographical Society
The American Geographical Society is an organization of professional geographers, founded in 1851 in New York City. Most fellows of the society are Americans, but among them have always been a significant number of fellows from around the world...
. It was established in the will of Major General
Major general (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, major general is a two-star general-officer rank, with the pay grade of O-8. Major general ranks above brigadier general and below lieutenant general...
George Washington Cullum
George Washington Cullum
George Washington Cullum was an American soldier, engineer and writer. He served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War, primarily serving in the Western Theater.-Birth and early years:...
(1809–92), the vice president of the Society, and is awarded "to those who distinguish themselves by geographical discoveries or in the advancement of geographical science". It was first awarded in 1896 to Robert E. Peary
Robert Peary
Robert Edwin Peary, Sr. was an American explorer who claimed to have been the first person, on April 6, 1909, to reach the geographic North Pole...
. The gold medal was designed by Lydia Field Emmet
Lydia Field Emmet
Lydia Field Emmet was an American artist best known for her work as a portraitist. She studied with, among others, prominent artists such as William Merritt Chase, Henry Siddons Mowbray, Kenyon Cox and Tony Robert-Fleury...
.
Recipients
- 1896: Robert E. PearyRobert PearyRobert Edwin Peary, Sr. was an American explorer who claimed to have been the first person, on April 6, 1909, to reach the geographic North Pole...
- 1897: Fridtjof NansenFridtjof NansenFridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In his youth a champion skier and ice skater, he led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, and won international fame after reaching a...
- 1899: Sir John MurrayJohn Murray (oceanographer)Sir John Murray KCB FRS FRSE FRSGS was a pioneering Scottish oceanographer, marine biologist and limnologist.-Early life:...
- 1901: Thomas C. MendenhallThomas Corwin MendenhallThomas Corwin Mendenhall was an autodidact US physicist and meteorologist.-Biography:Mendenhall was born in Hanoverton, Ohio to Stephen Mendenhall, a farmer and carriage-maker,...
- 1902: A. Donaldson SmithArthur Donaldson SmithDr. Arthur Donaldson Smith was an American explorer of Africa. In the 1890s he made a geological expedition to Lake Rudolph , passing through what was then Somaliland, southern Ethiopia and Kenya.-External links:*...
- 1903: H.R.H. Duke of the Abruzzi
- 1904: Georg von NeumayerGeorg von NeumayerGeorg Balthazar von Neumayer , was a German polar explorer and scientist who conceived the idea of international cooperation for meteorology and scientific observation....
, Sven HedinSven HedinSven Anders Hedin KNO1kl RVO was a Swedish geographer, topographer, explorer, photographer, and travel writer, as well as an illustrator of his own works... - 1906: Robert BellRobert Bell (geologist)Robert Bell FRSC MD was a Canadian geologist, professor and civil servant. He is considered Canada’s greatest exploring scientist, having named over 3,000 geographical features.-Personal life:...
, Robert Falcon ScottRobert Falcon ScottCaptain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13... - 1908: William Morris DavisWilliam Morris DavisWilliam Morris Davis was an American geographer, geologist, geomorphologist, and meteorologist, often called the "father of American geography"....
- 1909: Francisco P. MorenoFrancisco MorenoFrancisco Pascacio Moreno was a prominent explorer and academic in Argentina, where he is usually referred to as Perito Moreno...
, Sir Ernest ShackletonErnest ShackletonSir Ernest Henry Shackleton, CVO, OBE was a notable explorer from County Kildare, Ireland, who was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration... - 1910: Hermann WagnerHermann Wagner (geographer)Hermann Wagner was a German geographer and cartographer who was a native of Erlangen. He was the son of anatomist Rudolf Wagner and brother to economist Adolph Wagner ....
- 1911: Jean B. A. E. Charcot
- 1914: Sir John Scott KeltieJohn Scott KeltieSir John Scott Keltie F.R.G.S., F.S.S was a Scottish geographer, best known for his work with the Royal Geographic Society.Keltie was born in Dundee, and attended school in Perth...
, Ellen Churchill SempleEllen Churchill SempleEllen Churchill Semple was an American geographer. Ellen was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the youngest of five children by Alexander Bonner Semple and Emerine Price. She is most closely associated with work in anthropogeography and environmentalism... - 1917: George W. GoethalsGeorge Washington GoethalsGeorge Washington Goethals was a United States Army officer and civil engineer, best known for his supervision of construction and the opening of the Panama Canal...
- 1918: Frederick Haynes NewellFrederick Haynes NewellFrederick Haynes Newell , First Director of the United States Reclamation Service, was born in Bradford, Pennsylvania...
- 1919: Emmanuel de MargerieEmmanuel de MargerieEmmanuel Marie Pierre Martin Jacquin de Margerie ForMemRS was a French geographer after whom the Margerie Glacier was named, which he visited in 1913. He was awarded the Cullum Geographical Medal of the American Geographical Society in 1919. In 1923 de Margerie was awarded the Mary Clark Thompson...
, Henry Fairfield OsbornHenry Fairfield OsbornHenry Fairfield Osborn, Sr. ForMemRS was an American geologist, paleontologist, and eugenicist.-Early life and career:... - 1921: Albert I, Prince of MonacoAlbert I, Prince of MonacoAlbert I was Prince of Monaco and Duke of Valentinois from 10 September 1889 until his death.-Early life:...
- 1922: Edward A. Reeves
- 1924: Jovan CvijićJovan CvijicJovan Cvijić was a Serbian geographer, president of the Serbian Royal Academy of Sciences, and rector of the University of Belgrade. A world-renowned scientist, Cvijić is considered the founder of geography in Serbia.-Early life and family:Jovan Cvijić was born on October 11 Jovan Cvijić...
- 1925: Lucien GalloisLucien GalloisLucien Louis Joseph Gallois was a French geographer who was a native of Metz.He was a student at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, where he took classes from Paul Vidal de la Blache . In 1884 he received his agrégation, and in 1893 became a lecturer at the Sorbonne...
, Harvey C. Hayes, Pedro C. Sanchez - 1929: Jean Brunhes, Alfred HettnerAlfred HettnerAlfred Hettner was a German geographer.He is known for his concept of chorology, the study of places and regions....
, Hugh Robert MillHugh Robert MillHugh Robert Mill was a Scottish geographer and meteorologist who was influential in the reform of geography teaching, and in the development of meteorology as a science. Educated in Scotland, he graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1883...
, Jules de Schokalsky - 1930: Curtis Fletcher Marbut
- 1931: Mark JeffersonMark Jefferson (geographer)Mark Jefferson was the chief cartographer of the American Delegation to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. He was also the head of the geography department at Michigan State Normal College , now Eastern Michigan University , from 1901-1939.Jefferson received his bachelors degree from Boston...
- 1932: Bertram ThomasBertram ThomasBertram Thomas was an English civil servant who is the first documented Westerner to cross the Rub' al Khali . He was also a scientist who practiced craniofacial anthropometry,...
- 1935: Douglas Johnson
- 1938: Louise Arner BoydLouise BoydLouise Arner Boyd was an American explorer of Greenland and the Arctic, who wrote extensively of her explorations, and in 1955 became the first woman to fly over the North Pole privately chartering a DC-4 and crew that included aviation pioneer Thor Solberg.-Biography:Born in San Rafael,...
- 1939: Emmanuel de Martonne
- 1940: Robert Cushman MurphyRobert Cushman MurphyRobert Cushman Murphy was an American ornithologist and former Lamont curator of birds for the American Museum of Natural History....
- 1943: Arthur Robert HinksArthur Robert HinksArthur Robert Hinks, CBE, FRS was a British astronomer and geographer..As an astronomer, he is best known for his work in determining the distance from the Sun to the Earth from 1900–1909: for this achievement, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society and was elected a...
- 1948: Hugh Hammond BennettHugh Hammond BennettHugh Hammond Bennett was a pioneer in the field of soil conservation in the United States of America. He founded and headed the Soil Conservation Service, a federal agency now referred to as the Natural Resources Conservation Service.- Biography :Bennett was born near Wadesboro in Anson County,...
- 1950: Hans W:son Ahlmann
- 1952: Roberto Almagia
- 1954: British Everest Expedition
- 1956: J. Russell Smith
- 1958: Charles Warren ThornthwaiteC. W. ThornthwaiteCharles Warren Thornthwaite was an American geographer and climatologist. He is best known for devising a climate classification system, published in 1948, that is still in use around the world, and also for his detailed water budget computations of potential evapotranspiration...
- 1959: Albert Paddock CraryAlbert P. CraryAlbert Paddock Crary , was a pioneer polar geophysicist and glaciologist. He made it to the North and then to the South Pole on February 12, 1961 as the leader of a team of eight. The south pole expedition had set out from McMurdo Station on December 10, 1960, using three Snowcats with trailers...
- 1961: William Maurice EwingMaurice EwingWilliam Maurice "Doc" Ewing was an American geophysicist and oceanographer.Ewing has been described as a pioneering geophysicist who worked on the research of seismic reflection and refraction in ocean basins, ocean bottom photography, submarine sound transmission , deep sea coring of the ocean...
- 1962: Richard Joel Russell
- 1963: Rachel Louise CarsonRachel CarsonRachel Louise Carson was an American marine biologist and conservationist whose writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement....
- 1964: John Leighly
- 1965: Kirtley Fletcher MatherKirtley F. MatherKirtley Fletcher Mather was an American geologist at Harvard University, and at one time, head of the geology department. He prepared a deposition for the Scopes "Monkey Trial", and helped Clarence Darrow rehearse his questioning of William Jennings Bryan.He was an activist and author, and wrote...
- 1967: Peter HaggettPeter HaggettPeter Haggett, CBE Sc.D. FBA is an eminent British geographer and academic, Professor Emeritus and Senior Research Fellow in Urban and Regional Geography at the School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol....
- 1968: Luna B. LeopoldLuna LeopoldLuna Bergere Leopold was a leading U.S. geomorphologist and hydrologist, and son of Aldo Leopold. He received a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1936; an M.S. in Physics-Meteorology from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1944; and a Ph.D...
- 1969: Neil A. ArmstrongNeil ArmstrongNeil Alden Armstrong is an American former astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor, United States Naval Aviator, and the first person to set foot upon the Moon....
, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr.Buzz AldrinBuzz Aldrin is an American mechanical engineer, retired United States Air Force pilot and astronaut who was the Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing in history...
, Michael CollinsMichael Collins (astronaut)Michael Collins is a former American astronaut and test pilot. Selected as part of the third group of fourteen astronauts in 1963, he flew in space twice. His first spaceflight was Gemini 10, in which he and command pilot John Young performed two rendezvous with different spacecraft and Collins... - 1973: Bruce HeezenBruce C. HeezenBruce Charles Heezen was an American geologist. He is most famous as being the leader of a team from Columbia University which mapped the Mid-Atlantic Ridge during the 1950s....
- 1975: Rene DubosRené DubosRené Jules Dubos was a French-born American microbiologist, experimental pathologist, environmentalist, humanist, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction for his book So Human An Animal. He is credited as an author of a maxim "Think globally, act locally"...
- 1985: Chauncy D. HarrisChauncy HarrisChauncy Dennison Harris was a pioneer of modern geography. His seminal works in the field of American urban geography along with his work on the Soviet Union during and after the Cold War era established him as one of the world's foremost urban geographers...
- 1987: F. Kenneth HareKenneth HareFredrick Kenneth Hare, CC, O.Ont, FRSC was a Canadian climatologist and academic, who researched atmospheric carbon dioxide, climate change, drought, and arid zone climates and was a strong advocate for preserving the natural environment.- Biography :Born in Wiltshire, England, he received a...
, Yi-Fu TuanYi-Fu TuanYi-Fu Tuan is a Chinese-U.S. geographer.Tuan was born in 1930 in Tientsin, China. He was the son of a rich oligarch and was part of the top class in the Republic of China.... - 1989: M. Gordon WolmanM. Gordon WolmanMarkley Gordon Wolman was an American geographer. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He attended Haverford College before being drafted into the U.S. Navy during World War II. After the war, he returned to Baltimore and graduated from the Johns Hopkins University in 1949 with a degree in Geography...
- 1997: Melvin G. Marcus
- 1999: Jack DangermondJack DangermondJack Dangermond is an American business executive and environmental scientist. In 1969, he co-founded with his wife Laura the Environmental Systems Research Institute , a privately-held Geographic Information Systems software company...
, David Lowenthal - 2001: Wilbur ZelinskyWilbur ZelinskyWilbur Zelinsky is an American cultural geographer. He is a professor emeritus at Pennsylvania State University. An Illinoisan by birth, but a "northeasterner by choice and conviction," Zelinsky received his education at University of California, Berkeley, where he was a student of Carl Sauer. He...
- 2009: Peter SmithPeter Smith (scientist)Peter H. Smith is a Senior Research Scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory of the University of Arizona, where he holds the inaugural Thomas R. Brown Distinguished Chair in Integrative Science...
, Matthew HensonMatthew HensonMatthew Alexander Henson was an African American explorer and associate of Robert Peary during various expeditions, the most famous being a 1909 expedition which it was discovered that he was the the first person to reach the Geographic North Pole.-Life:Henson was born on a farm in Nanjemoy,...
External links
- (Photo) presentation of the Cullum medal to the head Lama of Thyangboche Monastery, Nepal, June 15, 1954 (from the collection of the American Geographical Society)