The Witness of a Citizen Scholar

Gilbert White is not a household name, neither as geographer nor as public servant, as were scientists such as anthropologist Margaret Mead, biologist Paul Ehrlich, or astronomer Carl Sagan. Yet his contributions already have impacted and increasingly will influence all of our lives perhaps as dramatically as have those of any scientist in the 20th century. Dr. White is the globally recognized father of the interdisciplinary study of natural hazards, which often become disasters when we humans confront rather than avoid the extreme events of nature. He founded the leading Natural Hazards Research and Information Center (Boulder, Colorado). Dr. White has received awards and commendations internationally for his contributions. In 2000 the United States National Academy of Sciences awarded him the Public Welfare Medal, and President Clinton presented him with the National Medal of Science.

Robert Hinshaw's biography about a Quaker geographer, whose life has spanned 90 years thus far, is also a chronicle of United States and international scientific exploration of human involvements with water in the 20th century. There is more: it also is about the relationships between academia and government at all levels of "man's painful, faltering, and crucial struggle to find his harmonious place in the global systems of which he is a part."

As a biography this account is of doing and achieving. Equally it is a documentation of being, of relating and loving. Commitment to science and application of its findings for the common good constitutes Gilbert's career. Commitment throughout this career to tenets and testimonies shared by Quakers constitutes his witness. Revealing the extent to which each informs the other in Gilbert's life is the biographer's challenge. This is the common challenge we all face: to do as we believe, and in the process to make a difference by being our best with ever intensifying conviction, experience, and wisdom. We all need as much help and encouragement as we can come by in practicing what we preach. Consider this life story a primer for each of us in walking our talk.

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