Alonso, William.

Alonso was awarded the first Ph.D. in regional science, from the University of Pennsylvania in 1960. His book, Location and Land Use: Toward a General Theory of Land Rent, which was based on his dissertation, is often credited with launching the field of urban economics and is one of the most cited works in regional science. He focused on demographic changes in highly urbanized areas. Alonso also made major contributions to the study of migration, regional development and the politics of numbers. Alonso was a professor of Regional Planning at the University of California Berkeley from 1966-1976. He left UC to become Director of the Center for Population Studies at Harvard.