National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered
in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific
and educational institutions in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests
include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental
and historical conservation, and the study of world culture and history. The
National Geographic Society’s logo is a yellow portrait frame – rectangular in
shape – which appears on the margins surrounding the front covers of its
magazines and as its television channel logo. In partnership with 21st Century
Fox, the Society operates the magazine, TV channels, a website that features
extra content and worldwide events, and other media operations.
History
The National Geographic Society began as a club for an
elite group of academics and wealthy patrons interested in travel. On January
13, 1888, 33 explorers and scientists gathered at the Cosmos Club, a private
club then located on Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C., to organize "a
society for the increase and diffusion of geographical knowledge." After
preparing a constitution and a plan of organization, the National Geographic
Society was incorporated two weeks later on January 27. Gardiner Greene Hubbard
became its first president and his son-in-law, Alexander Graham Bell, succeeded
him in 1897.
In 1899, 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 (until 1954), and members of the Grosvenor
family have played important roles in the organization since. Bell and Gilbert
Hovey Grosvenor devised the successful marketing notion of Society membership
and the first major use of photographs to tell stories in magazines.
The current National Geographic Society president and
CEO is Gary E. Knell. The chairman of the board of trustees is John Fahey. The
editor-in-chief of National Geographic magazine is Susan Goldberg. Gilbert
Melville Grosvenor, a former chairman of the Society board of trustees received
the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005 for his leadership in geography
education.
In 2004, the National Geographic Society headquarters
in Washington, D.C., was one of the first buildings to receive a
"Green" certification from Global Green USA. The National Geographic
received the prestigious Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and
Humanities in October 2006 in Oviedo, Spain.
In 2013 the society was investigated for possible
violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act relating to their close
association with an Egyptian government official responsible for antiquities.
The National Geographic Magazine, later shortened to
National Geographic, published its first issue in October 1888, nine months
after the Society was founded, as the Society's official journal, a benefit for
joining the tax-exempt National Geographic Society. Starting with the February
1910 (Vol XXI., No. 2) issue, the magazine began using its now famous
trademarked yellow border around the edge of its covers.
There are 12 monthly issues of National Geographic per
year. 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. National Geographic magazine is currently published in
40 local-language editions in many countries around the world. Combined English
and other language circulation is around 6.8 million monthly, with some 60
million readers.
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