William Bowie

William Bowie (born May 6, 1872, Annapolis Junction, Md., U.S.—died Aug. 28, 1940, Washington, D.C.) was an American geodesist who investigated isostasy, a principle that rationalizes the tendency of dense crustal rocks to cause topographic depressions and of light crustal rocks to cause topographic elevations. Bowie was educated at Trinity College, Hartford, Conn. (B.S., 1893), and at Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa. In 1895 he joined the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey; he served as chief...