Paul E. Lydolph

Paul E. Lydolph passed away on March 25, 2011 at the age of 87.

Lydolph was born on January 4, 1924 in Bonaparte, Iowa. He attended Harvard University in 1944 and was a student at MIT in 1945 while serving in the U.S. Army Air Forces (1943-47), where he underwent meteorology cadet training and served as a Radar-Weather Officer during the Second World War.

Lydolph received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Iowa in 1948, and both a Master of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1951 and a Ph.D. in 1955. In 1956-57, Lydolph was a Ford Foundation Fellow and completed a Russian area studies program at the University of California-Berkeley.

Lydolph was a math teacher in Iowa Public Schools from 1946-49. He was assistant and then associate professor at Los Angeles State College from 1952- 1959 and professor of geography at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee from 1959-1992. He served as UWM department chairman from 1963-1969 and again in 1971-1972.

Lydolph specialized in the geography of the U.S.S.R. and climatology. He served as a visiting lecturer at Oxford University, the Stockholm School of Economics, and the University of Hawaii at various times during his career. He was the Smithsonian Institution Tour Director to the U.S.S.R. from 1976-1979.

Lydolph was the author of Geography of the U.S.S.R. (editions 1 through 5, 1964-1990), Climates of the U.S.S.R. (volume 7,1977), World Survey of Climatology (1977),and many other publications on climatethroughout his career. Published in 1987,a Festschrift was written by his colleaguesin his honor, “Soviet Geography Studiesin Our Time” edited by Lutz Holzner andJeane M. Knapp.

Paul E. Lydolph (Necrology). 2011. AAG Newsletter 46(5): 22.