John Russell ("Russ") Mather was born in Boston on October 9, 1923. He earned a BA in
history from Williams College in 1945. Mather soon focused his studies on
meteorology and earned a BS (1947) and MS (1948) in meteorology from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then began working at Charles Warren
Thornthwaite's Laboratory of Climatology (later C.W. Thornthwaite Associates) as a
research assistant and climatologist. It was at the Laboratory that he studied
topics such as micrometeorology, evapotranspiration, and the water budget. He later
became the president and director of the Laboratory from 1963-1972.
In 1951, Mather earned his PhD in geography from Johns Hopkins University. He taught
classes at various universities, such as Johns Hopkins University (1949-1953),
Drexel Institute of Technology (1957-1961), and the University of Chicago
(1958-1961). He started teaching at the University of Delaware in 1961, and he
chaired the Department of Geography there from 1966-1989. Mather received the
University of Delaware's Excellence in Teaching Award in 1989. He retired as
Professor Emeritus in 2000.
Mather conducted various research studies throughout his career and authored numerous
articles and books, including The Genius of C.W.
Thornthwaite and Water Resources: Distribution,
Use, and Management. Mather was also the State Climatologist for
Delaware from 1978-1991. He served as president of the Association of American
Geographers (AAG) from 1991-1992 and was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award
from the AAG in 1998. Mather was a council member for the American Geographical
Society from 1981-2000 and was awarded the Charles P. Daly Medal from them in 1999.
Mather died on January 3, 2003.
