White, Gilbert Fowler (1911–2006)

US geographer and educator. He researched flood problems for President Franklin D Roosevelt's administration (1934–42). As a conscientious objector, he served during World War II with the Friends Service Society. He was president of Haverford College (1946–55) and then went on to teach geography at the University of Chicago (1955–69). He left there in 1970 to direct the Institute of Behavioral Science in Boulder, Colorado, where he concentrated on exploring behavioural responses to potential natural hazards like floods and fires.

White was born in Chicago, Illinois. He was a graduate of the University of Chicago. Among his numerous published works are Human Adjustment to Floods (1942), Science and the Future of Arid Lands (1960), and Strategies of American Water Management (1969).