Alexander H. Rice Jr.
Alexander Hamilton Rice Jr. | |
---|---|
MD) | |
Known for | Aerial mapping and Amazon River exploration |
Spouse | |
Awards | Commandeur de la Légion d'honneur |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Geography |
Institutions | Harvard University |
Signature | |
Alexander Hamilton Rice Jr. (August 29, 1875 – July 23, 1956) was an American physician,
Early life and military service
Alexander H. Rice Jr. was born in
In 1914–1915 he volunteered for the Paris surgical staff of the
On the United States' 1917 entry into the war, he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the
In 1922 Rice was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for US Congress from the Massachusetts 12th Congressional District.[6]
Exploration and academic career
As a geographer and explorer Rice specialized in rivers..
After his 1915 marriage, his socialite wife accompanied him on several expeditions to South America which were chronicled in the geographic literature and followed closely by the popular press. A 1916 expedition was the subject of a 1918 book by a colleague, William Thomas Councilman.[10] During a 1920 trip, it was reported that "the party warded off an attack by savages and killed two cannibals"[11]—"scantily clad ... very ferocious and of large stature".[12] A subsequent headline read: "Explorer Rice Denies That He Was Eaten By Cannibals".[13]
On an expedition in 1919, he ascended the
He led his last expedition in 1924–1925.[18]
Dr Rice was closely associated with the Royal Geographical Society in London. After being awarded its Patron's Medal in 1914, he lectured there frequently, and published reports of his various expeditions only in its The Geographical Journal, in 1914, 1918, 1921, and 1928.
In 1926 Rice offered to finance a railway for 850 km (500 miles) from Manaus north to Boa Vista (then Rio Branco Territory; now
In 1929 Rice founded Harvard's Institute of Geographical Exploration, to which he and his wife provided a considerable endowment, and which under Rice's directorship became an important center for the science of photogrammetry. His other positions included curatorship of the South American Section of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology; Lecturer in Diseases of Tropical South America at Harvard Medical School; and Trustee of the American Museum of Natural History.
When the Institute of Geographical Exploration closed in 1952, Rice retired.[19]
Awards and honors
His explorations of the Amazon and Orinoco Rivers won him honors which included: in 1914 Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society, London; Gold Medalist, Geographical Society of Philadelphia; Gold Medalist, Société Royale de Géographie d'Anvers; and gold medalist, Harvard Travelers Club.[20]
Personal life
When the Royal Geographical Society in London celebrated its centenary in 1930, he made the largest single donation (£25,000) to its appeal, which was used to build a lecture theater, library, and other rooms at its headquarters. He gave many of his films and photographs to the RGS archive.
He belonged to the Rhode Island
After retiring, Rice lived in Miramar, his wife's family mansion in Newport, Rhode Island, where he died on July 23, 1956.[17][22][19]
References
- ^ a b c "A Nod to Ham Rice" Archived October 27, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Harvard Magazine, March 1999.
- ^ a b Eliot, Samuel Atkins, ed. (1917). Biographical History of Massachusetts. Vol. VII. Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Biographical Society. Retrieved June 10, 2022 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "Harvard Class of 1898 Report 2". Harvard University. 1907. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
- ^ p.799 In: Frederick Sumner Mead (ed.) 1921. Harvard's Military Record in the World War. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- ^ "Alexander Hamilton Rice Jr. Biographical Summary". Roots Web. Retrieved April 27, 2009.
- ^ "U.S. Representatives from Massachusetts (1920s)". The Political Graveyard (politicalgraveyard.com). Retrieved October 11, 2009.
- ^ "American Off to Explore Mighty Amazon River on Yacht Formerly Owned by Belgium's King". The Idaho Statesman. November 24, 1916. p. 2. Retrieved June 10, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Union, Pan American (December 1916), "The 'Alberta' leaving New York for the Amazon River", Pan American Notes, Bulletin of the Pan American Union, vol. 43, no. 6, p. 778
- ^ a b "Attacked by Wild Indians" (PDF). The New York Times. May 1, 1920. p. 17. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
- ^ Councilman, William Thomas; Lambert, R.A., The medical report of the Rice expedition to Brazil, Harvard University Press, 1918
- ^ "Mrs. A.H. Rice Dies in a Paris Store – New York and Newport Society Woman, Wife of Explorer, Noted for Philanthropy – A Survivor of Titanic – Lost First Husband and Son in Disaster – Gave Library to Harvard University", The New York Times, p. 21, July 14, 1937
- ^ "Explorers Kill Cannibals – Former Mrs. Widener Shares Perils in South America", New York Tribune, p. 7, May 1, 1920
- ^ Plotkin, Mark J. (March–April 2013), "Alexander Hamilton Rice: Brief life of an Amazon explorer: 1875–1956", Harvard Magazine, Harvard University
- ^ Alexander Hamilton Rice, "The Rio Negro, the Casiquiare Canal, and the Upper Orinoco", The Geographical Journal, London, 58:5, November 1921
- ^ Alexander Hamilton Rice, "The Rio Branco, Uraricoera, and Parima", The Geographical Journal, London, 71:2, February 1928.
- ^ Tenner, Edward. 1988. "Harvard, Bring Back Geography!" Harvard Magazine May–June 1988
- ^ a b "Alexander Rice, Explorer, Was 80" Archived July 26, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, p. 25, July 24, 1956 – via Encyclopedia Titanica
- Science Museum, London
- ^ a b Kahn, Joseph P. (October 1, 2006). "Gilded Age opportunity: Ornate Newport mansion placed on the auction block". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on March 25, 2009. Retrieved April 27, 2009.
- ^ better source needed]
- ^ Yumpu.com. "DECEASED members 1904 to 23 May 2007 - The Explorers Club". yumpu.com. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
- ^ "Deaths and Funerals: Dr. Alexander Rice". The Boston Globe. Newport, Rhode Island. UP. July 24, 1956. p. 22. Retrieved June 10, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
External links
- Media related to Alexander H. Rice, Jr. at Wikimedia Commons