Physical Geography

Al Idrisi
The second is the 12th century geographer and cartographer Abu Abd Allah Muhammad al-Idrisi
al-Qurtubi al-Hasani al-Sabti, also called Al Idrisi, or Dreses. He’s just as famous for being a
cartographer as he is for a geographer. A pre-Renaissance Renaissance man, Al Idrisi didn’t just
create the map of Eurasia and north Africa found in the Tabula Rogeriana, he also wrote an
extremely detailed account of all of the geographical features, ethnic groups, socioeconomic
factors, and other features of every area he drew. His information was gleaned from interviews
with visitors to the areas he wrote about, as well as his own travels- in a time period when few
people traveled more than five or ten miles from their homes, he had visited Spain, Portugal,
France, Anatolia, and England by age sixteen, and traveled even more extensively later in life.
The Tabula Rogeriana is his most famous work of geography and cartography, and was created
for King Roger II of Sicily.

Alexander von Humboldt

Next is Alexander von Humboldt. He was an explorer and naturalist during the 18th-
19th centuries, and his work laid the foundation for the science of biogeography. He was the first
person to develop the idea that weather patterns, geology, and biology all played a part in
determining which plants were capable of thriving in which areas. He painstakingly collected
geographical and biological data over a period of years, and carefully traced the relationships he
found between them. The end result was the Kosmos, a multi-volume work that covered the
aspects of geography and natural science that he devoted his life to.

Immanuel Kant
Fourth is Immanuel Kant. Though Kant is known more for being an 18th century philosopher than
a geographer, his work is a large part of the reason why geography is treated as a legitimate
science today. He believed that geography classified things according to place, while history
classified things according to time. As a result, according to Kant, geography had an important
place in virtually every facet of knowledge. By establishing the academic importance of
geography, he lent more legitimacy to geography as an intellectual discipline.

Carl Ritter
Next, one of the most important figures in modern geography is Carl Ritter. Working during the
19th century, Ritter treated the various geographical features of the world like organs in the
human body- he believed that each one interacted with the others to create a cohesive whole, and
that, just like a person’s organs determined their health, the geographic features of a place
affected the history of its inhabitants. He wrote the 19-volume Geography in Relation to Nature
and the History of Mankind (Die Erdkunde im Verhältniss zur Natur und zur Geschichte des
Menschen), and, along with Kant, was instrumental in establishing geography as a field of study.
Arnaldo Faustini
Arnaldo Faustini is the man for whom the Faustini moon crater is named. He was a geographer,
writer, and cartographer born in 1872 that lived until 1944 He specialized in the poles, and wrote
nineteen different books on subjects having to do with the poles alone, as well as countless other
articles on them. He knew several polar explorers of the time, helped them translate accounts of
their journeys into other languages, and drew maps of the areas they explored. Faustini’s
fascination with the poles formed the foundation for several polar explorations, and his work is
still on display in the Polar Museum in Fermo, Italy.

Most of the best geographers were also cartographers, and vice versa. Both map making and
geography are labors of love that are just as much art as science. While many cartographers were
artists and writers, many geographers were philosophers and explorers. All famous geographers
exhibited a curiosity about the world and people around them, and developed new ways of
interpreting the things they saw. These people helped shape our understanding of how the natural
world influences the course of human history, from things like the areas where people tended to
settle, to the establishment of trade and cultural exchange routes, to the development of different
cultures worldwide.

SOIL SCIENCE
1.Dominique Arrouays, InfoSol Unit

Dominique Arrouays is a French agronomist with more than 35 years of experience

researching soil management and protection. As a senior researcher at the French
National Institute for Agronomic Research, Arrouays created the Soil Quality
Monitoring Network, a unique national soil monitoring program cataloging more than
13,000 samples of French soils and their changes over time. In 2012, he became the
scientific coordinator for the international GlobalSoilMap project, which produces a
digital map of soil properties from across the globe.

2. Megan Balks, Waikato University

Megan Balks is a senior lecturer in Earth Sciences at Waikato University, New

Zealand. She is currently Secretary of the Antarctica and Sub-Antarctic Permafrost,
Soils and Periglacial Environments Group (ANTPAS), specializing in Antarctic soils
and permafrost research. Balks is a Fellow of the New Zealand Society of Soil
Science, where she was honored with the Norman Taylor Memorial Lecture award for
outstanding contributions to soil science in New Zealand in 2008. She was the first
woman to ever receive the award.

3. Borris Boincean, Alecu Russo State University

Borris Boincean is the chair of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Agroecology at
the Alecu Russo State University in Balti, Republic of Moldova. For more than 30
years, Boincean has conducted long-term field experiments with crop rotations,
monoculture, soil fertilization, irrigation, and tillage at the Selectia Research Institute
of Field Crops. In 2011, Boincean co-authored the book The Black Earth, which
analyzes the state of black soils, or chernozem, around the world and provides
recommendations for its sustainable use and management.

4. Eric Brevik, Dickinson State University

Eric Brevik is a professor of geology and soils in the Department of Natural Sciences
at Dickinson State University. Brevik researches the links between soil science and
culture, including the impact of humans on soil properties and processes. In 2013, he
co-edited the first edition of Soils and Human Health, which discusses ways the soil
science community can contribute to the improvement of soil and human health. In
2016, Brevik received the Soil Science of America Award for outstanding
contributions to agronomy through education and research.

5. Anya Byg, James Hutton Institute

Anya Byg is a researcher with the Social, Economic, and Geographical Science Group
at the James Hutton Institute, Scotland. Byg has conducted interdisciplinary research
on human-environment relationships and environmental changes across Africa, South
America, and Asia. She is currently researching the sustainable use and management
of soils and the environment by different cultures.

6. Arnulfo Encina Rojas, Paraguayan Society of Soil Science

Arnulfo Encina Rojas is a professor at the National University of Asuncion, Paraguay,

and member of the Paraguayan Society of Soil Science (SOPACIS). Rojas was a
major contributor to the FAO’s Global Soil Partnership Plan of Action, providing
recommendations for sustainable soil management and conservation. He is also a key
contributor to the first-ever Soil Atlas of Latin America and the Caribbean, illustrating
the diverse soils that can be found in the region. He regularly publishes articles
on factors affecting soil health for Paraguayan news outlets.

7. Jerry Glover, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

Jerry Glover is the Senior Sustainable Agricultural Systems Advisor for USAID,
working to build more resilient food and agricultural systems for small-holder farmers
around the world. Glover has studied a range of natural and farmed ecosystems, with a
focus on utilizing perennial crops and trees to improve soil health and increase crop
yields. Glover’s work has been featured in popular publications such as National
Geographic and Scientific American, as well as scientific journals. In 2008, Nature
identified Glover as “one of five crop researchers who can change the world.”

8. Maria de Lourdes Mendonça Santos, Embrapa

Maria de Lourdes Mendonça Santos is the General Director at Embrapa: Brazilian

Agricultural Research Corporation. She has coordinated several research projects on
soil, at both national and international levels, with a focus on digital soil mapping,
land degradation, and sustainable agriculture. She is one of 27 experts on the
FAO’s Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils and leader of the Latin American
node at GlobalSoilMapping.Net.

9. Alexander McBratney, University of Sydney

Alexander McBratney is Director of the Sydney Institute of Agriculture and a

professor of soil science at the University of Sydney. He is considered a world-leading
soil scientist, having made major contributions to the development of the soil science
methods pedometrics, digital soil mapping, and precision agriculture. He is one of
only three recipients of the International Union of Soil Sciences’ Dokuchaev Award,
awarded every four years for major research accomplishments in soil science.
10. Pardon Muchaonyerwa, University of KwaZulu-Natal

Pardon Muchaonyerwa is an Associate Professor of soil science at the University of

KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. For more than 15 years, Muchaonyerwa
has researched soil ecosystem function and health and sustainable agriculture across
several African countries. He is currently a member of the Soil Science Society of
South Africa and the International Union of Soil Science.

11. Ashok K. Patra, Indian Institute of Soil Science

Ashok K. Patra is the Director of the ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science in Bhopal,
India. For more than 30 years, Patra has studied how to sustain soil resources for food
security, with a research focus on nutrient cycling, soil biodiversity, and carbon
sequestration. Patra has made a significant research contribution on the different
aspects of nitrogen cycling and has published more than 200 scientific publications for
a range of international journals. He is the recipient of multiple awards, including the
Bharat Jyoti Award and Rajiv Gandhi Excellence Award.

12. Sieglinde Snapp, Michigan State University

Sieglinde Snapp is Professor of soils and cropping systems ecology and part of
the Ecological Food and Farming Systems specialization program at Michigan State
University. Snapp’s research focuses on understanding the principles of resilient
cropping system design and biologically based soil management and has spanned
more than 16 countries in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Paraguay. She is the Associate
Director of the Center for Global Change and Earth Observations, working to inform
both public and private decisionmaking on critical global environmental change
issues.

13. Karen Vaughan, University of Wyoming

Karen Vaughan is Assistant Professor of soil pedology at the University of Wyoming.

Vaughan’s research and teaching are focused on plant-soil interrelationships, wetland
ecosystem functions, and natural resource education. She is the recipient of
two Wyoming NASA Space Grants for enhancing science research in Wyoming. As
part of the Storytelling Science through Film Workshop, Vaughan wrote and directed
the short film “Science for All” to share the importance of soil science research with a
broader audience.