Hans Bobek

Hans Bobek (17 May 1903, in Klagenfurt – 15 February 1990, in Vienna) was an Austrian geographer. After his studies in geography at the University of Innsbruck, where Johann Sölch—a pupil of Albrecht Penck in Vienna—was his main teacher, he became professor of geography at the University of Vienna (1951–1971). Bobek is noted for his works on cultural and social geography, urban geography as well as on the regional geography of the Near and Middle East, then primarily known as the "Orient". He was, among others, the author of ''Iran: Probleme eines unterentwickelten Landes alter Kultur''. His theory about rural and urban interactions was called ''Rentenkapitalismus''; another important output was the ''theory of cultural steps'' (''Kulturstufentheorie'').

Bobek was elected a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in 1953 and the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities in 1968. In 1978, he received an honorary doctorate from the Ruhr University Bochum. He was awarded the Busk Medal by the Royal Geographical Society in 1981. Provided by Wikipedia