Morrill, Richard (1939-)

Richard Leland Morrill is best known as one of the quantitative revolutionaries who impelled geography toward more scientific epistemologies, theoretical sophistication, and quantitative modes of analysis during the mid 20th century.

He was born in Los Angeles in 1939. He received a BA in geography at Dartmouth College in 1955 and then pursued graduate work at the University of Washington, where he earned his doctorate in 1959. As a graduate student at Washington, he was one of a small but influential group of students (including William Bunge, Brian Berry, Art Getis, and Duane Marble) under the tutelage of William Garrison, a doyen of the quantitative revolution in geography, who introduced his students to quantitative analysis. Walter Tobler was also a guiding figure for these “Space Cadets” ...