-------- Original Message --------
Subject: NYTimes.com Article: Arthur H. Robinson, 89, Dies;
Reinterpreted World Map
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 14:41:15 -0800
From: Julie Sweetkind-Singer <[log in to unmask]>
To: Maps-L <[log in to unmask]>

------------------
Hi all,

Arthur Robinson's obituary was in the New York Times yesterday.  I've
included it here.

Julie




>Arthur H. Robinson, 89, Dies; Reinterpreted World Map
>
>November 15, 2004
>  By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
>
>
>
>
>
>Dr. Arthur H. Robinson, a geographer who improved on the
>venerable Mercator projection for drawing the round Earth
>on a flat map, died on Oct. 10 in Madison, Wis. He was 89.
>
>His death, after a brief illness, was announced by the
>University of Wisconsin, where he was an emeritus professor
>of geography and cartography.
>
>In a career of teaching, writing and research, Dr. Robinson
>always found time, as mapmakers have for centuries, to look
>for the best possible solution to cartography's frustrating
>"Greenland problem." On maps drawn according to the most
>familiar projection, devised by Gerardus Mercator in the
>16th century, Greenland appears to be about the size of
>South America, though it is actually no larger than Mexico.
>
>
>The distortion is a result of the compromises inherent in
>representing a sphere on a flat piece of paper. If the
>shapes of land masses are correct, the sizes will be
>distorted, and vice versa. If lower latitudes are close to
>reality on maps, then the polar regions will be grossly
>misshaped.
>
>In 1963, Dr. Robinson devised his own map projection. He
>had been dissatisfied with existing projections since his
>experience as director of the map division of the Office of
>Strategic Services in World War II.
>
>"I started with a kind of artistic approach," Dr. Robinson
>said in a 1988 interview in The New York Times. "I
>visualized the best-looking shapes and sizes. I worked with
>the variables until it got to the point where, if I changed
>one of them, it didn't get any better."
>
>Only then, he said, did he "figure out the mathematical
>formula to produce that effect." For his projection, Dr.
>Robinson chose 38 degrees north and 38 degrees south as the
>standard parallels. This established the two places on the
>map where both size and shape are most accurate in the
>middle of the temperate zone, where most of the land and
>people are.
>
>The Robinson projection was eventually adopted by the
>National Geographic Society for use in some of its world
>maps. It is also the basis for maps by several federal
>agencies and the world atlases of Rand McNally.
>
>Dr. Joel L. Morrison, a former president of the American
>Congress on Surveying and Mapping and a government
>geographer, said that Dr. Robinson was "a major contributor
>to the creation of a solid foundation for the development
>of cartographic science" in the 20th century.
>
>Born in Montreal on Jan. 5, 1915, to American parents,
>Arthur Robinson was educated at Miami University in Ohio
>and received a doctorate at Ohio State in 1947. After his
>service with military intelligence in the war, he joined
>the Wisconsin faculty, where he spent the rest of his
>career.
>
>Dr. Robinson's textbook, "Elements of Cartography,"
>published in 1953, is now in its sixth edition and still
>widely used in university courses. His honors include the
>presidency of the International Cartographic Association
>and medals from the American Geographical Society and the
>British Cartographic Society. The map library at Wisconsin
>is named for him.
>
>Survivors include his wife, Martha E. Robinson of Madison;
>a son, Stephen M., of Madison; a daughter, Patricia A.
>Robinson of Sonoita, Ariz.; and two grandchildren. His
>first wife of more than 50 years, the former Mary Elizabeth
>Coffin, died in 1992.
>
>http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/15/obituaries/15robinson.html?ex=1101644489&ei=1&en=23d6dd8b7df0d4cc
>
>
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Julie Sweetkind-Singer
Head Librarian; GIS & Map Librarian
Branner Earth Sciences Library & Map Collections
397 Panama Mall, M/C 2211
Stanford University
Stanford, CA  94305
[log in to unmask]
Phone:  650-725-1102