Jump to content
 







Main menu
   


Navigation  



Main page
Contents
Current events
Random article
About Wikipedia
Contact us
Donate
 




Contribute  



Help
Learn to edit
Community portal
Recent changes
Upload file
 








Search  

































Create account

Log in
 









Create account
 Log in
 




Pages for logged out editors learn more  



Contributions
Talk
 



















Contents

   



(Top)
 


1 Background and education  





2 Career  





3 Personal  





4 Legacy  





5 See also  





6 References  





7 Selected bibliography  





8 External links  














William Bowie (engineer)






تۆرکجه
Català
Deutsch
Eesti
Español
Français
Italiano
Malagasy
Русский
 

Edit links
 









Article
Talk
 

















Read
Edit
View history
 








Tools
   


Actions  



Read
Edit
View history
 




General  



What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Cite this page
Get shortened URL
Download QR code
Wikidata item
 




Print/export  



Download as PDF
Printable version
 
















Appearance
   

 






From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 


William Bowie
William Bowie
BornMay 6, 1872
Grassland, Annapolis Junction, Maryland
DiedAugust 28, 1940 (1940-08-29) (aged 68)
NationalityAmerican
AwardsWilliam Bowie Medal (1939)
Scientific career
FieldsGeodesy

William Bowie, B.S., C.E., M.A. (May 6, 1872 – August 28, 1940) was an American geodetic engineer.

Background and education

[edit]

Bowie was born at Grassland, an historic estate near Annapolis Junction, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, to Thomas John Bowie and Susanna Anderson. He was educated in public schools, at St. John's CollegeinAnnapolis, Maryland, Trinity CollegeinHartford, Connecticut (B.S. 1893; M.A. 1907; Sc.D. 1919), and Lehigh (C.E. 1895; Sc.D. 1922). He received honorary degrees (LL.D. 1936) from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, at the meeting of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) of which he was president from 1933 to 1936, and from George Washington University (Sc.D. 1937).[1]

Career

[edit]

In 1895 Bowie entered the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. During World War I he served in the United States Army Corps of Engineers as a major.

He represented the United States at various international geodetic conferences and congresses. His scientific researches had to do with the theory of isostasy and its applications to dynamic and structural geology. He retired from government service at the age of 64 in 1936.

Bowie's professional activity was directed towards three general objectives:

He was elected in 1907 a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science,[2] in 1925 a Fellow of the American Physical Society,[3] and in 1927 a Member of the National Academy of Sciences.[2]

He was the first President of the American Geophysical Union from 1920 to 1922 and served as president a second time from 1929 to 1932.

In 1932, Bowie received the Prix Charles Lagrange from the Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique.[4] He later received the Franklin Institute's Elliott Cresson Medal in 1937.

Personal

[edit]

AnEpiscopalian, Bowie married Elizabeth Taylor Wattles of Alexandria, Virginia, on June 28, 1899. Together, they had two children, William (Jr.) and Clagett. William died after a three-week illness and lies buried in Arlington National Cemetery.[1]

Legacy

[edit]

Two undersea features, the Bowie Seamount and the Bowie Canyon, are named after William Bowie.[5] The William Bowie Medal, the highest honor of the American Geophysical Union, is named in his honor.[6] The U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey coastal survey ship USC&GSBowie (CSS 27), in commission from 1946 to 1967, was named for him.[7]

Bowie with the medal named after him

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Fleming, J . A. (1951), William Bowie, 1872—1940 A Biographical Memoir (PDF), Washington D.C.: National Academy of Sciences, pp. 61–63
  • ^ a b Soler, Tomás (2014). "William Bowie: Eminent Scientist and First Chairman (1926–1940) of ASCE's Surveying and Mapping Division" (PDF). Journal of Surveying Engineering. 140: 2–11. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)SU.1943-5428.0000117. (See p. 3.)
  • ^ "APS Fellow Archive". American Physical Society. (search on year=1925 and institution=All)
  • ^ "Notes" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society. 39 (3): 189–194. 1933. doi:10.1090/s0002-9904-1933-05579-9. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
  • ^ "Undersea Features History". National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 11 February 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
  • ^ "William Bowie Medal - Honors Program". Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  • ^ NOAA History: Coast and Geodetic Survey Ships: Bowie
  • Selected bibliography

    [edit]
    [edit]
    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Bowie_(engineer)&oldid=1218729144"

    Categories: 
    American geodesists
    1872 births
    1940 deaths
    Fellows of the American Geophysical Union
    Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
    Fellows of the American Physical Society
    Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
    United States Coast and Geodetic Survey personnel
    United States Army Corps of Engineers personnel
    United States Army officers
    Lehigh University alumni
    St. John's College (Annapolis/Santa Fe) alumni
    Burials at Arlington National Cemetery
    Scientists from Maryland
    Scientists from Washington, D.C.
    20th-century American engineers
    20th-century American geologists
    Presidents of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics
    Hidden categories: 
    Articles with short description
    Short description is different from Wikidata
    Articles with hCards
    Articles with FAST identifiers
    Articles with ISNI identifiers
    Articles with VIAF identifiers
    Articles with WorldCat Entities identifiers
    Articles with BIBSYS identifiers
    Articles with BNF identifiers
    Articles with BNFdata identifiers
    Articles with GND identifiers
    Articles with J9U identifiers
    Articles with LCCN identifiers
    Articles with NTA identifiers
    Articles with PLWABN identifiers
    Articles with PortugalA identifiers
    Articles with VcBA identifiers
    Articles with SNAC-ID identifiers
    Articles with SUDOC identifiers
     



    This page was last edited on 13 April 2024, at 13:20 (UTC).

    Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.



    Privacy policy

    About Wikipedia

    Disclaimers

    Contact Wikipedia

    Code of Conduct

    Developers

    Statistics

    Cookie statement

    Mobile view



    Wikimedia Foundation
    Powered by MediaWiki