Henry Morris

Henry Madison Morris, Ph.D. (October 6, 1918-February 25, 2006) was an American engineer, creationist and Christian apologist. He was one of the founders of the Creation Research Society and the Institute for Creation Research. He is considered by many to be the father of modern creationism. In 1961, Morris and theologian John C. Whitcomb wrote The Genesis Flood, the first book to take a scholarly approach to proving the Old Testament account of creation. He also wrote numerous other creationist books and devotional books, and made regular television and radio appearances.

Morris grew up in Texas and graduated from Rice University in Houston in 1939 with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. In 1940, he married Mary Louise, and they later had six children together. He worked as a hydraulic engineer with the International Boundary and Water Commission. In 1942, he returned to Rice to teach civil engineering until 1946. From 1946 through 1951, he worked at the University of Minnesota, where he was awarded a master's degree in hydraulics (1948) and a Ph.D. in hydraulic engineering (1950).

In 1951 he became a professor and chair of civil engineering at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. From 1956-57, he served as a professor of applied science at Southern Illinois University, and following this, as department chair of civil engineering at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). In 1963, Morris and nine others founded the Creation Research Society. Morris resigned from his position at Virginia Tech in 1969 and co-founded the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) in 1972.