Biographical Note
Thomas F. Saarinen was born in 1934 in Calgary, Canada.
In 1956, Saarinen earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. Pursuing his interests in geography, in 1964, he completed a master's degree in Geography at the University of Chicago. In 1966, he received his doctorate in Geography from the University of Chicago.
Professor Saarinen began his academic career at the University of Indiana, where he worked from 1961 to 1962. In 1965, he accepted a faculty position in the Department of Geography at the University of Arizona from where he retired in 1992.
He served on the editorial boards of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Environmental Design Research Association, and Internal Association for the Study of People and Their Physical Surroundings. He was affiliated with the Association of American Geographers and the American Geographical Society.