Arthur H. Robinson

Arthur H. Robinson (January 5, 1915 – October 10, 2004) was an American geographer and cartographer, who was professor in the Geography Department at the University of Wisconsin–Madison from 1947 until he retired in 1980. He was a prolific writer and influential philosopher on cartography, and one of his most notable accomplishments is the Robinson projection in 1961.

Arthur H. Robinson was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada to American parents, James Howard Robinson and Elizabeth (Peavey) Robinson. He lived in Great Britain while he was young, and received his post-secondary education in the United States. His undergraduate work was done at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, obtaining a B.A. degree in 1936. During his undergraduate work he became especially interested in cartography, and received some practice drawing maps for faculty textbooks while earning a master's degree in geography from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1938, and he earned his Ph.D. degree from Ohio State University in 1947. While at Ohio State, Robinson worked to solve problems in the Map communication model.

During World War II, Robinson served as director of the map division of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). In 1941, when Robinson joined OSS, there were no cartographers as we know them today. Robinson engaged geographers with some interest in mapping and the group developed their techniques on the job. Robinson oversaw the creation of 5,000 hand-drawn maps and attended the Allied conferences at Quebec and Cairo in 1943 and 1944 as chief U.S. map officer. For his efforts Robinson received the Legion of Merit from the United States Army in 1946.

...
Wikipedia