The National Geographic Society ...

[Michael Grove]

was founded in 1888 ...

"to increase and diffuse geographic knowledge."

Its mission is to inspire people to care about the planet and it

IS one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational

institutions in the world. Its interests include geography,

archaeology and natural science, and the promotion of

environmental and historical conservation.

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.

National Geographic's various media properties reach more than 500

million people monthly. National Geographic maintains a museum for the

public in its Washington, D.C., headquarters. It has helped to sponsor

popular traveling exhibits, such as an early 2010s "King Tut" exhibit

which featured the magnificent artifacts from the tomb of the young 

Egyptian Pharaoh ; "The Cultural Treasures of Afghanistan" which

opened in May 2008 and traveled to other cities for 18 months; and an

exhibition of China's Terracotta Warriors in its Washington headquarters

in 2009–10.

The 13-hour TV series - COSMOS - hosted and narrated by the renowned 

astronomer Dr. Carl Sagan, which was co-produced with the BBC and

originally aired on Public Broadcasting Stations in the United States, has

recently been followed up, by - COSMOS : A SPACETIME ODYSSEY - this

time around, sponsored and aired by the National Geographic Channel

and hosted and narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson.

"Dr. Sagan described the universe in a way that appeals to a mass audience, by using Earth as a reference point, by speaking in terms intelligible to non-scientific people, by relating the exploration of space to that of the Earth by pioneers of old, and by citing such Earth legends as the Library of Alexandria as metaphors for space-related future events."

Kevin McCorry <[e-mail]>

[Michael Grove]

During my time at Borehamwood Grammar School, in the early 1960s, I studied Geography and History at GCE 'O' level, and it was then that I became convinced that both Geography and History should be taught as the same subject. This presumably established the mindset, so to speak, which led to my conviction that the three subjects, Pure Maths, Applied Maths and Physics, which I studied at GCE 'A' level, were all one and the same subject - and gave me the time, in the school library, to read such delights as National Geographic Magazine and Design Magazine. 

IT was back in 1979 when my Brother and Sister in law first set me up with membership of the National Geographic Society and a subscription to the National Geographic Magazine, when we were living in the Old School House in Tackley.  I have been an enthusiastic supporter, through thick and thin, ever since.