Evelyn Pruitt Explained

Evelyn Pruitt
Birth Name:Evelyn Lord Pruitt
Birth Date:25 April 1918
Birth Place:San Francisco, California, U.S.
Death Place:Arlington, Virginia, U.S.
Occupation:Geographer
Education:MS, University of California at Los Angeles

Evelyn Lord Pruitt (April 25, 1918 – January 19, 2000) was an American geographer. She was editor of The Professional Geographer, and is known for developing the field of remote sensing and coining the term "remote sensing".

Early life and education

Pruitt was born in San Francisco[1] on April 25, 1918; her parents were Ethel Lord and Conrad Douglas Pruitt.[2] She first became interested in geography while serving as the driver for a field trip with her older sister.[3] [4] She has a B.A. (1940) and an M.A. (1943) from the University of California, Los Angeles. She started work for the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1942, and was the first woman to attain the rank of 'professional' in the organization.

Career

Pruitt moved to working at the Office of Naval Research in 1948 where she first worked to establish research at Point Barrow, Alaska.[5] She later became director of geographic programs at the Office of Naval Research[6] where she worked on coastal erosion[7] and helped advance the use of satellites to study the planet.[8] Through this work Pruitt established a mechanism for distributing funds for research in the field.[9] Pruitt started editing The Professional Geographer in 1957,[10] a position she would hold for three years.[11] [12]

Pruitt retired from the Office of Naval Research in 1973, by which time she was the highest ranking woman scientist in the United States Navy. She remained active after retirement, and in 1975, Pruitt served as chair of the Coastal Society's first conference, and in 1977 she served as the second president of the Coastal Society.[13]

In the early 1960s, Pruitt realized that advances in science meant that aerial photography was no longer an adequate term to describe the new data streams being used to study the planet.[14] [15] With assistance from her fellow staff member at the Office of Naval Research, Walter Bailey, she coined the term "remote sensing"[16] in an unpublished white paper.[17] Pruitt then started work on what would become the first symposium on remote sensing in the environment to be held first at the University of Michigan, and at these meetings the use of the term remote sensing began to be more widely used.[18] [19] She later heralded remote sensing for its "fantastic potential for looking at the world".[20]

She died of pneumonia on January 19, 2000.

Selected publications

Honors and awards

Pruitt received a Superior Civilian Service Award from the United States Navy in 1973. In 1981, the American Association of Geographers awarded Pruitt with a citation for Meritorious Contributions to the Field of Geography,[21] and the Society of Women Geographers presented Pruitt with their outstanding achievement award.[22] She received an honorary doctorate from Louisiana State University in 1983,[23] the first woman and first geographer to receive this honor.[24] In 1984 the American Association of Geographers awarded her with their highest honor, the James R. Anderson Medal of Honor in Applied Geography. She was also a Regents Professor at the University of California at Los Angeles. In 2003, Louisiana State University established a lecture series named in her honor.[25] The Society of Women Geographers has established a scholarship in Pruitt's honor.[26]

Notes and References

  1. News: November 3, 1975 . 'Remote Sensing' topic of talk . 12 . Public Opinion . June 6, 2023 . June 6, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230606011434/https://www.newspapers.com/article/public-opinion-remote-sensing-topic-of/125927079/ . live .
  2. Book: Van den Hoonaard, Will C. (Willy Carl) . Map worlds : a history of women in cartography . 2013 . Waterloo, Ontario . Wilfrid Laurier University Press . Internet Archive . 978-1-55458-932-6 . 105–109.
  3. Monk . Janice . Presidential Address: Women, Gender, and the Histories of American Geography . 2004 . Annals of the Association of American Geographers . 94 . 1–22 . 0004-5608 . 1 . 10.1111/j.1467-8306.2004.09401001.x . 3694065 . 144506143 . June 6, 2023 . June 6, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230606024748/https://www.jstor.org/stable/3694065 . live .
  4. News: April 3, 1956 . Geography offers jobs for women . 29 . The Montreal Star . June 6, 2023 . June 6, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230606022935/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-montreal-star-geography-offers-jobs/125927197/ . live .
  5. Pruitt . Evelyn L. . 1979 . The Office of Naval Research and Geography . Annals of the Association of American Geographers . 69 . 1 . 103–108 . 10.1111/j.1467-8306.1979.tb01235.x . 2569553 . 0004-5608 . June 6, 2023 . June 6, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230606015122/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2569553 . live .
  6. News: February 28, 2013 . LSU anthropologists find sea chest treasures . 2 . The Eunice News . June 6, 2023 . June 6, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230606021432/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-eunice-news-lsu-anthropologists-find/125926340/ . live .
  7. News: April 4, 1956 . Field of geography offers opportunities for women . 29 . The Ottawa Citizen . June 6, 2023 . June 6, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230606005926/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-ottawa-citizen-field-of-geography-of/125926723/ . live .
  8. Book: Downs . Roger M. . National Geographic almanac of geography . Day . Frederick A. . 2005 . Washington, D.C. . National Geographic . Internet Archive . 978-0-7922-3877-5.
  9. Herlihy . Peter H. . Dobson . Jerome E. . Robledo . Miguel Aguilar . Smith . Derek A. . Kelly . John H. . Viera . Aida Ramos . July 1, 2008 . A Digital Geography of Indigenous Mexico: Prototype for the American Geographical Society's Bowman Expeditions . Geographical Review . en . 98 . 3 . 395–415 . 10.1111/j.1931-0846.2008.tb00308.x . 143756812 . 0016-7428.
  10. 1957 . New Editor . The Professional Geographer . en . 9 . 1 . 49–50 . 10.1111/j.0033-0124.1957.91_49.x . 0033-0124 . June 7, 2023 . June 8, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230608182542/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.0033-0124.1957.91_49.x . live .
  11. Walker . H. Jesse . June 1, 2006 . Evelyn Lord Pruitt, 1918–2000 . Annals of the Association of American Geographers . 96 . 2 . 432–439 . 10.1111/j.1467-8306.2006.00487.x . 128613679 . 0004-5608.
  12. Griess . Phyllis R. . 1960 . Note from the editor . The Professional Geographer . en . 12 . 1 . 12 . 10.1111/j.0033-0124.1960.121_12.x . 0033-0124 . June 7, 2023 . June 7, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230607192807/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.0033-0124.1960.121_12.x . live .
  13. Web site: June 2012 . The 23rd international conference of the Coastal Society . June 6, 2023 . June 6, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230606111326/https://nsgl.gso.uri.edu/tcs/tcsw12001/tcsw12001.pdf . live .
  14. Book: Campbell . James B. . Introduction to Remote Sensing . Wynne . Randolph H. . June 21, 2011 . The Guilford Press . 978-1-60918-176-5 . 5th . New York London . English.
  15. Book: Ryerson, Robert A. . Why 'where' matters : understanding and profiting from GPS, GIS, and remote sensing : practical advice for individuals, communities, companies and countries . 2010 . Manotick, ON . Kim Geomatics Corp. . Internet Archive . 978-0-9866376-0-5.
  16. Fussell . Jay . Rundquist . Donald . Harrington . John A. . September 1986 . On defining remote sensing . Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing . 52 . 9 . 1507–1511 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211004200606/https://www.asprs.org/wp-content/uploads/pers/1986journal/sep/1986_sep_1507-1511.pdf . October 4, 2021.
  17. Book: Jensen, John R. . Remote sensing of the environment : an earth resource perspective . 2007 . Upper Saddle River, NJ . Pearson Prentice Hall . Internet Archive . 978-0-13-188950-7 . 4.
  18. Book: Air photography and coastal problems . 1977 . Stroudsburg, Pa. . Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross . Internet Archive . 978-0-87933-252-5 . 4.
  19. News: Frasca . Joseph . December 10, 1979 . New technology: Science of remote sensing . 13 . The Press Democrat . June 6, 2023 . June 6, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230606011431/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-press-democrat-new-technology-scien/125926568/ . live .
  20. News: Klemesrud . Judy . October 14, 1975 . Remember geography as place names? Well, now it's much more . 9 . Omaha World-Herald . June 6, 2023 . June 6, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230606013701/https://www.newspapers.com/article/omaha-world-herald-remember-geography-as/125926896/ . live .
  21. Book: Eppinga, Jane . They made their mark : an illustrated history of the Society of Woman Geographers . 2009 . Guilford, Conn. . Globe Pequot Press . Internet Archive . 978-0-7627-4597-5 . 228.
  22. Web site: SWG: Outstanding Achievement . June 6, 2023 . iswg.org . en . April 19, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230419013457/http://www.iswg.org/awards/past-outstanding-achievement-award-recipients.php . live .
  23. News: Evelyn Pruitt . en-US . Washington Post . May 2, 2023 . 0190-8286.
  24. Book: Kenzer, M. S. . Applied Geography: Issues, Questions, and Concerns . November 11, 2013 . Springer Science & Business Media . 978-94-009-0471-2 . 198–199 . en . June 12, 2023 . June 12, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230612160429/https://books.google.com/books?id=vw1JCAAAQBAJ&dq=%22the+coastal+society%22+%22evelyn+pruitt%22&pg=PA198 . live .
  25. Web site: Pruitt Lecture Series LSU Geography & Anthropology . June 6, 2023 . www.lsu.edu . June 6, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230606005931/https://www.lsu.edu/ga/about/pruittlecture.php . live .
  26. Web site: SWG: Pruitt Minority Fellowships . June 6, 2023 . Society of Women Geographers . en . April 18, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230418220629/http://www.iswg.org/fellowships/pruitt-minority-fellowships.php . live .

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Evelyn Pruitt".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.