Ron J. Johnston

Ronald John Johnston, OBE, FAcSS, FBA (born 30 March 1941 in Swindon, England) is a British human geographer, known for elaborating his discipline's foundations, particularly its history and nature, and for his contributions to urban social geography and electoral geography. His broad scope is illustrated by the fact that he makes extensive use of quantitative methods, while critically dealing with subjects of social and political relevance. Johnston also is an unusually productive author: As of December 2009, he has authored or co-authored more than 50 books and 800 papers, and edited or co-edited a further more than 40 books (if translated and revised editions are counted separately). Among the books he has edited is The Dictionary of Human Geography, the first four editions of which as main editor.

After receiving his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Manchester in 1962 and 1964, respectively, he moved to Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. There, Johnston obtained a PhD degree, and came in contact with what has become known as the quantitative revolution of geography. He also wrote his first paper on urban social geography during that time. From 1967–1974, he was part of the academic staff at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, where his interest in electoral geography began to develop. Johnston then was appointed professor at the University of Sheffield. In 1979, Geography and Geographers, which he has updated and expanded every few years since then, and whose various editions have been translated into four languages, was published. Johnston became co-editor of the two journals Progress in Human Geography and Environment and Planning A that same year. In 1981, the first edition of The Dictionary of Human Geography, to which Johnston has contributed hundreds of articles, was published. It has maintained its status as the discipline's authoritative dictionary ever since. After serving as pro-vice-chancellor for academic affairs of the University of Sheffield, he became vice-chancellor of the University of Essex in 1992. Since 1995, Johnston has been professor at the University of Bristol. He resigned from the editorial boards of both Progress in Human Geography and Environment and Planning A in 2006.

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