The 'National Geographic Society', headquartered in
Washington, D.C. in the
United States, is one of the world's largest not-for-profit educational and scientific organizations. Its interests include
geography,
archaeology and
natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical
conservation, and the study of
world culture and
history.
Its historical mission is "to increase and diffuse geographic knowledge while promoting the conservation of the world's cultural, historical, and natural resources."
[ National Geographic Online ] Its President and CEO since March 1998,
John M. Fahey, Jr., says National Geographic's purpose is to inspire people to care about their planet. The Society is governed by a twenty-three member Board of Trustees composed of a group of distinguished educators, businesspeople, scientists, former governmental officials, and conservationists. The organization sponsors and funds scientific research and exploration. The Society publishes an official journal, ''
National Geographic Magazine'', and other magazines, books, school products, maps, other publications, web and film products in numerous languages and countries around the world. It also has an educational foundation that gives grants to education organizations and individuals to enhance geography education.
[ National Geographic Education Foundation ] Its Committee for Research and Exploration has given grants for scientific research for most of the Society's history and has recently awarded its 9,000th grant for scientific research, conducted worldwide and often reported on by its media properties. Its various media properties reach about 360 million people around the world monthly.
[ National Geographic Society ] National Geographic maintains a museum free for the public in its Washington, D.C. headquarters, and has helped to sponsor such popular traveling exhibits such as the "King Tut" exhibit featuring magnificent artifacts from the tomb of the young
Egyptian Pharaoh, and currently touring in several American cities, presently in Philadelphia at the Franklin Institute.
History
The National Geographic Society was founded in Washington, D.C. on
January 27,
1888, by 33 explorers and scientists who were interested in "organizing a society for the increase and diffusion of
geographical knowledge." They had begun discussing forming the Society two weeks earlier on
January 13,
1888, before gathering at the
Cosmos Club, a private club then located on
Lafayette Square near the White House.
Gardiner Greene Hubbard became its first president and his son-in-law,
Alexander Graham Bell, eventually succeeded him in 1897 following his death. Bell's son-in-law
Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor was named the first full-time editor of National Geographic Magazine and served the organization for fifty-five years, and members of the Grosvenor family have played important roles in the organization since. Bell and his son-in-law, Grosvenor, devised the successful marketing notion of Society membership and the first major use of photographs to tell stories in magazines. The current Chairman of the Board of Trustees of National Geographic is
Gilbert Melville Grosvenor, who received the
Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005 for the Society's leadership for Geography education. In 2004, the National Geographic Headquarters in
Washington, D.C. was one of the first buildings to receive a "Green" certification
[1] from
Global Green USA.
[2] The National Geographic received the prestigious
Prince of Asturias Award for Communications and Humanity in October 2006 in
Oviedo, Spain.
Publications
''National Geographic Magazine''
Main articles: National Geographic Magazine
Cover of January, 1915 ''National Geographic''
The ''National Geographic Magazine'', later shortened to ''National Geographic'', published its first issue nine months after the Society was founded as the Society's official journal, a benefit for joining the tax exempt National Geographic Society. The magazine has had for many years a trademarked yellow border around the edge of its cover.
There are 12 monthly issues of ''National Geographic'' per year, plus at least four additional map supplements. On rare occasions, special issues of the magazine are also created. The magazine contains articles about geography, popular science, world history, culture, current events and photography of places and things all over the world and universe. The ''National Geographic'' magazine is currently published in 31 language editions in many countries around the world. Combined English and other language circulation is nearly nine million monthly with more than fifty million readers monthly.
Other publications
In addition to its flagship magazine, the Society publishes five other periodicals in the United States:
★ ''
National Geographic Kids:'' launched in 1975 as ''
National Geographic World'', name changed in 2001. There are currently 15 local language editions of NG Kids. An Arabic edition of the childrens' magazine was launched in Egypt in early 2007.
★ ''
National Geographic Little Kids:'' for children aged 3-6.
★ ''
National Geographic Traveler:'' launched in 1984. There are seven language editions of ''NG Traveler''.
★ ''
National Geographic Adventure:'' launched in 1999
★ ''
National Geographic Explorer:'' classroom magazine launched in 2001 as ''
National Geographic for Kids,'' which has grown to about 2 1/2 million circulation.
The Society also runs an online news outlet, National Geographic News
[3].
The Society previously published:
★ The ''National Geographic School Bulletin'', magazine similar to the ''National Geographic'' but aimed at grade school children, was published weekly during the school year from
1919 to
1975, when it was replaced by ''National Geographic World''.
★ During the 1980s and 1990s, it published a research journal which later closed.
The Society has also published
maps,
atlases, and numerous
books.
Television
Stories by the National Geographic Society are shown on
television. National Geographic specials as well as
television series have been shown on
PBS and other networks in the United States and globally for many years. The ''Geographic'' series in the U.S. started on
CBS in 1964, moved to
ABC in 1973 and shifted to PBS (produced by
WQED,
Pittsburgh) in 1975. It has featured stories on numerous scientific figures such as
Louis Leakey,
Jacques Cousteau, or
Jane Goodall that not only featured their work but helped make them world-famous and accessible to millions. The specials' theme music, by
Elmer Bernstein, was also adopted by the National Geographic Channel. The National Geographic Channel has begun to launch a number of subbranded channels in international markets, such as Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Adventure, Nat Geo Junior, and Nat Geo Music.
In 1997, internationally, and in 2001 in the United States, the Society launched, in part ownership with other entities like
News Corporation, the
National Geographic Channel, a
television channel with global distribution for
cable and
satellite viewers.
National Geographic Films, a wholly-owned taxable subsidiary of the National Geographic Society, has also produced a feature film based on the diary of a Russian submarine commander starring
Harrison Ford in '', and most recently retooling a French-made documentary for U.S. distribution with a new score and script narrated by
Morgan Freeman called ''
March of the Penguins'', which received an Academy Award for the Best Documentary in 2006. After a record $77 million theatrical gross in the United States, over four million DVD copies of ''March of the Penguins'' have been sold. National Geographic Films will be launching a new feature film in July called ''
Arctic Tale'', featuring the story of two families of walrus and polar bears.
Queen Latifah is the narrator of this film. National Geographic Films is co-producing with
Edward Norton and
Brad Pitt the 10-hour mini series of Steven Ambrose's award-winning "Undaunted Courage:
Meriwether Lewis,
Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West" for
HBO. The National Geographic website (nationalgeographic.com) provides a wealth of content in multimedia formats, including a recently launched site highlighting world music.
Support for research & projects
The Society has helped sponsor many expeditions and research projects over the years, including:
★
Codex Tchacos - (conservation and translation of the only known surviving copy of the
Gospel of Judas)
★
Ian Baker (Discovers hidden waterfall of the
Tsangpo Gorge,
Tibet)
★
Robert Ballard - (
RMS ''Titanic'' and
John F. Kennedy's
PT-109 discovery)
★
Robert Bartlett - (
Arctic Exploration)
★
George Bass - (
Undersea archaeology -
Bronze Age trade)
★
Lee Berger - (Oldest footprints of modern humans ever found)
★
Hiram Bingham - (
Machu Picchu Excavation)
★
Richard E. Byrd - (First flight over
South Pole)
★
Jacques-Yves Cousteau - (Undersea exploration)
★
Mike Fay - (
MegaTransect and
MegaFlyover in Africa)
★
Dian Fossey - (
Mountain gorillas)
★
Birute Galdikas - (
Orangutans)
★
Jane Goodall - (
Chimpanzees)
★
Robert F. Griggs - (
Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes)
★
Heather Halstead - World Circumnavigations of
Reach the World
★
Louis and
Mary Leakey - (Discovery of manlike Zinjanthropus, more than 1.75 million years old)
★
Gustavus McLeod - (First flight to the North Pole in an open-air cockpit aircraft)
★
Robert Peary and
Matthew Henson - (
North Pole Expedition)
★
Paul Sereno - (
Dinosaurs)
★
Will Steger - (Polar Exploration & First
Explorer-in-Residence 1996)
[4]
★
Spencer Wells - (
The Genographic Project)
★
Xu Xing - (Discovery of fossil dinosaurs in China that have distinct feathers)
The Society supports many socially-based projects including
AINA, a
Kabul-based organization dedicated to developing an independent Afghan media, which was founded by one of the Society's most famous photographers,
Reza.
The Society also sponsors the
National Geographic Bee, an annual geographic contest for American middle-school students. More than four million students a year begin the geography competition locally, which culminates in a national competition of the winners of each state each May in Washington, D.C. ''
Jeopardy!'' host
Alex Trebek has moderated the final competition since the competition began some seventeen years ago. Every two years, the Society conducts an international geography competition of competing teams from all over the world. The most recent was held at Marineworld in San Diego, California during the summer of 2007, and had representatives from 18 country teams. The team from Mexico emerged as the winner.
Hubbard Medal
Anne Lindbergh's customized medal detailing her flight route
The
Hubbard Medal is awarded by the National Geographic Society for distinction in exploration, discovery, and research. The medal is named for
Gardiner Greene Hubbard, the first National Geographic Society president. The Hubbard Medal has been presented 34 times as of 2000, the most recent award going posthumously to
Matthew Henson,
Robert Peary's fellow Arctic explorer.
[5]
References
1. [1]
2. [2]
3. http://news.nationalgeographic.com
4. Explorer-in-Residence
5. [3]
Further reading
★ Poole, Robert M. ''Explorers House: National Geographic and the World it Made''. New York: Penguin, 2004. {ISBN|1594200327}
See also
★
National Geographic Magazine
★
Royal Geographical Society
★
Royal Canadian Geographical Society
★
Maps of the United States
★
National Geographic Bee
External links
;Official websites
:
★
National Geographic Online
:
★
National Geographic for Kids
:
★
National Geographic News
:
★
MapMachine
:
★
National Geographic Channel
:
★
National Geographic Traveler
;Additional information
:
★
"How They Found National Geographic's 'Afghan Girl'" (
March 7,
2003)
:
★
Website criticising the National Geographic on geographical names—describes the Iranian geographic naming controversy
:
★
National Geographic and the National Iranian American Council discuss the naming dispute (NIAC press release dated
December 7,
2004)
;Photos, maps, and other images
:
★
Society's flag
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