American geologist

William Morris Davis was a geographer, meteorologist, and geologist who devised a relative method of determining the age of a river system. Davis' method of landscape analysis considered the cyclical nature of erosion and the subsequent uplift of the surrounding land in order to determine the age of the river in relation to its surroundings.

Davis was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania into the city's social elite. His grandmother was Lucretia Mott, the famous abolitionist. William Morris Davis bore the name of his uncle, a congressman. Davis spent many of his childhood summers in the farmlands of Pennsylvania, which instilled in him a deep interest in natural history. This interest spurred Davis to study at the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard University. After his graduation in 1869, he pursued a master's degree in mining engineering, also at Harvard. Davis embarked on a...