Robert DeCourcy Ward

Writer, Author

1867 – 1931

21

Who was Robert DeCourcy Ward?

Robert DeCourcy Ward was an American climatologist, author, and educator. He became the first ever professor of climatology in the United States and made contributions to the study of the climate, but his advocacy for immigration reform and eugenics may have contributed to his present-day obscurity.

Born on November 29, 1867, in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Henry Veazey Ward and Anna Saltonstall, he matriculated to Harvard University in 1885, where he received an A.B. in 1889. After graduation, he spent a year traveling through Europe. He joined the meteorology staff of Harvard University in 1890 as an assistant to William Morris Davis, later becoming an instructor in meteorology, then in climatology. Beginning in 1892, he served as editor of the American Meteorological Journal, a post he would hold until 1896 when it ceased publication. In Harvard graduate school, he studied meteorology for two years and was awarded an A.M. in 1893.

In 1894, he helped to co-found the Immigration Restriction League, a group of fellow Bostonians who were opposed to the growing influx of "undesirable immigrants".

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Born
Nov 29, 1867
Boston
Nationality
  • United States of America
Profession
Education
  • Harvard University
Died
Nov 12, 1931
Cambridge

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

Citation

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