Peter Gould (18 November 1932 – 22 January 2000) was an Evan Pugh Professor Emeritus of Geography at

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State became ...

. Throughout his tenure at Penn State University, Gould received many awards including the

Lauréat Prix International de Géographie Vautrin Lud The ''Prix International de Géographie Vautrin Lud'', known in English as the Vautrin Lud Prize, is the highest award in the field of geography. Established in 1991, the award is named after the 16th Century French scholar . The award is given in ...

, the Retzius Gold Metal of the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography, as well as an honorary Doctor of Science from the Universitaire de Strasbourg. Dr. Gould was a main contributor to the quantitative revolution in the field of Geography.

History

Born in 1932 in Coulsdon,

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, Peter Gould decided he was going to become a geographer at a fairly young age.Gould, P. (1999). Becoming a Geographer. Syracuse University Press. He graduated from

Colgate University Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theologi ...

in 1956 with a BA (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa). He attended Northwestern University for both his MA, and PhD.Gould, P. (1985). The Geographer at Work. Routledge. New York.

Legacy

Professor Gould is still well known for his work with spatial analysis, and mental maps. His research on dynamic structures of geographic space and on television in particular constitute early building blocks for researching the

geography of media and communication Geography of media and communication (also known as communication geography, media geography and geographies of media) is an interdisciplinary research area bringing together human geography with media studies and communication theory. Research ...

. The Peter R. Gould Center for Geography Education and Outreach within the Department of Geography at the Pennsylvania State University was named in his honor. Colgate University's Geography Department gives a Peter Gould Award in Geography annually.

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gould, Peter 1932 births 2000 deaths American geographers Pennsylvania State University faculty People from Coulsdon Recipients of the Vautrin Lud International Geography Prize Colgate University alumni Northwestern University alumni 20th-century geographers