Biographical Memoirs Volume 82 (2003) / Chapter Skim
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John Robert Borchert
John Robert Borchert
Pages 40-63
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A Regents' Professor of Geography at the University of Minnesota, he inspirer! three generations of students at all levels to get out of their armchairs en cl into the fielcI, to explore en cl get to know the territory, to ask questions, produce effective map series, generalize from them to infer en c!
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the Pittsburgh-Clevelanc! axis, past rail yards teeming with box cars clisplaying railroacl system names that react like a gazetteer of North America, to the heart of one of the largest cities on Earth.
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John Borchert grew up cluring that era, en cl using his powers of observation, imagination, en c! intellect he focused on these changes, without realizing it until later in life he proviclecl himself with an experiential foundation for his remarkable career as one of the woricl's leacling geographers cluring the last half of the twentieth century.
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geography at that time. Following commissioning John went to England to work as an operational weather forecaster at headquarters of the B-24 "Liberator" bomber division, briefing flight crews en c!
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geography department in the 1940s. Much of the text was devoted to efforts to relate Earth science material to the human use of the land, with a final section addressing in a minimal way the morphology of human settlement.
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Years later John recallecl that this approach to geographical analysis was analogous in many ways to what his weather forecasting team hac! clone with weather observationsisopleth analysis, with description and classification of patterns, description at different scales from global to local, interpretation using both theories en c!
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It lee! to many rewarcIing discussions with fellow graduate students, including Rodgers and Zelinsky as well as E
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stucly illustrates his continued focus on new methods for mapping geographic processes, notwithstanding a creative shift of application from natural resources to human settlements. A subsequent paper on "Major Control Points in American Economic Geography" clealt with one component of metropolitan evolution by mapping a half-century of change in the location of headquarters of large business organizations.
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His prize-winning 1987 book, America's Northern Heart[and, possibly his magnum opus, was baser! on maps comparing the settlement patterns of the upper Midwest at successive times at the beginning of railroading, the beginning of the auto-air age, en c!
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This work helpecl establish his creclentials as one of the nation's leacling urban geographers. One product of that stucly was "The Twin Cities Urbanized Area: Past, Present, Future," publishecl in 1961, which brilliantly illustratecl a remarkably precise method for producing a geographical forecast of the expansion of suburban lancl clevelopment around a metropolitan area.
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the Unitecl States in the 1950s, and research frontiers of moclern quantitatively oriented urban geography were being extended.2 One research thrust involves! cross-sectional investigations of national en cl regional systems of cities involving empirical testing of central place theory.
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GEOGRAPHY IN EDUCATION AND PUBLIC POLICY John Borchert joiner! the University of Minnesota geography faculty in 1949 upon completing his Ph.D.
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informal, at every level. Like most geography departments in the 1950s the University of Minnesota hacl several lower division courses that provided an opportunity to introduce large numbers of students to the fielcl en cl the cliscipline.
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issues vital in Minnesota at that time, en cl likely to be around for some years: the farm problem, promoting industrial growth, metropolitan organization, future of small towns, en c! outlook for the clepressec!
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a time series of maps to differentiate freeway influences from inclepenclent, long-term trencis in both rural en cl urban settings en cl thereby showocl the complexity of the changes that were assumed to result simply from free
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Development of material for the metropolitan unit in the Minnesota course lecl eventually to "The Twin Cities Urbanized Area: Past, Present, Future." Work with various planning organizations lee! to the opportunity for John to organize en cl leacl the urban research component of the Forcl Founciation-financecl Upper Midwest Economic Stucly ~ ~ 959-65)
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inventory covering more than a million 40-acre cells. By 1972 the project had produced a lancl use map of the entire state, along with files that became the basis for the Minnesota planning agency's pioneering lancl management information system, an achievement of national renown.
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Notable professional service en cl recognition incluclecl chairmanship of the U.S. National Committee for the International Geographical Union en cl chairmanship of the National Research Council's Transportation Research Board and the Earth Sciences Division, as well as membership on numerous National Research Council committees, Social Science Research Council, National Science Foundation Social Science Advisory Committee, Science Advisory Panel, U.S.
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Mecial for Outstanding Contributions to Urban Geography, en cl the Association of American Geographers awarclecl him the John Brinkerhoff Jackson Publication Awarc! for his book America's Northern Hearttand.
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2001. The quantitative revolution in urban geography.
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Time Series Maps for the Projection of Land-Use Patterns. 40th Annual Highway Research Board Meetings, Bulletin 311, pp.
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Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, Center for Urban and Regional Affairs and Minnesota State Planning Agency. 1978 Major control points in American economic geography.
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1987 America's Northern Heartland. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
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