<P> The 18th and the 19th centuries were the times when geography became recognized as a discrete academic discipline, and became part of a typical university curriculum in Europe (especially Paris and Berlin). The development of many geographic societies also occurred during the 19th century, with the foundations of the Société de Géographie in 1821, the Royal Geographical Society in 1830, Russian Geographical Society in 1845, American Geographical Society in 1851, and the National Geographic Society in 1888 . The influence of Immanuel Kant, Alexander von Humboldt, Carl Ritter, and Paul Vidal de la Blache can be seen as a major turning point in geography from a philosophy to an academic subject . </P> <P> Over the past two centuries, the advancements in technology with computers have led to the development of geomatics and new practices such as participant observation and geostatistics being incorporated into geography's portfolio of tools . In the West during the 20th century, the discipline of geography went through four major phases: environmental determinism, regional geography, the quantitative revolution, and critical geography . The strong interdisciplinary links between geography and the sciences of geology and botany, as well as economics, sociology and demographics have also grown greatly, especially as a result of earth system science that seeks to understand the world in a holistic view . </P> <Ul> <Li> Eratosthenes (276BC--194BC)--calculated the size of the Earth . </Li> <Li> Strabo (64 / 63 BC--ca . AD 24)--wrote Geographica, one of the first books outlining the study of geography . </Li> <Li> Ptolemy (c. 90--c. 168)--compiled Greek and Roman knowledge into the book Geographia . </Li> <Li> Al Idrisi (Arabic: أبو عبد الله محمد الإدريسي; Latin: Dreses) (1100--1165 / 66)--author of Nuzhatul Mushtaq . </Li> <Li> Gerardus Mercator (1512--1594)--innovative cartographer produced the mercator projection </Li> <Li> Alexander von Humboldt (1769--1859)--Considered Father of modern geography, published the Kosmos and founder of the sub-field biogeography . </Li> <Li> Carl Ritter (1779--1859)--Considered Father of modern geography . Occupied the first chair of geography at Berlin University . </Li> <Li> Arnold Henry Guyot (1807--1884)--noted the structure of glaciers and advanced understanding in glacier motion, especially in fast ice flow . </Li> <Li> William Morris Davis (1850--1934)--father of American geography and developer of the cycle of erosion . </Li> <Li> Paul Vidal de la Blache (1845--1918)--founder of the French school of geopolitics and wrote the principles of human geography . </Li> <Li> Sir Halford John Mackinder (1861--1947)--Co-founder of the LSE, Geographical Association </Li> <Li> Ellen Churchill Semple (1863--1932)--She was America's first influential female geographer . </Li> <Li> Carl O. Sauer (1889--1975)--Prominent cultural geographer </Li> <Li> Walter Christaller (1893--1969)--human geographer and inventor of Central place theory . </Li> <Li> Yi - Fu Tuan (born 1930)--Chinese - American scholar credited with starting Humanistic Geography as a discipline . </Li> <Li> Karl W. Butzer (1934--2016)--An influential German - American geographer, cultural ecologist and environmental archaeologist . </Li> <Li> David Harvey (born 1935)--Marxist geographer and author of theories on spatial and urban geography, winner of the Vautrin Lud Prize . </Li> <Li> Edward Soja (1941--2015)--Noted for his work on regional development, planning and governance along with coining the terms Synekism and Postmetropolis, winner of the Vautrin Lud Prize . </Li> <Li> Michael Frank Goodchild (born 1944)--prominent GIS scholar and winner of the RGS founder's medal in 2003 . </Li> <Li> Doreen Massey (1944--2016)--Key scholar in the space and places of globalization and its pluralities, winner of the Vautrin Lud Prize . </Li> <Li> Nigel Thrift (born 1949)--originator of non-representational theory . </Li> </Ul> <Li> Eratosthenes (276BC--194BC)--calculated the size of the Earth . </Li>

Who is known as the founder of modern geography