Davis studied meteorological phenomena along with geological and geographical issues. This made his work much more valuable in that he could tie in one object of study to others. By doing this, he was able to show the correlation between the meteorological happenings that took place and the geological and geographical issues that were affected by them. This provided those that followed his work with much more information than otherwise available.
While Davis was a meteorologist, he studied many other aspects of nature as well, and therefore addressed meteorological issues from the standpoint of an overall nature perspective. He became an instructor at Harvard teaching geology. In 1884, he created his cycle of erosion which showed the way rivers create landforms. In his day, the cycle was critical, but today it is seen as too simplistic.
When he created this cycle of erosion, Davis showed the different sections of rivers and how they are formed, along with the landforms that come with each one. Also important to the issue of erosion is precipitation, because this contributes to runoff, rivers, and other bodies of water.
Davis, who was married three times during his life, was also very involved with the National Geographic Society and wrote many articles for its magazine. He also helped found the Association of American Geographers in 1904. Staying busy with science took up most of his life, and he passed away in California at the age of 83.
