Category archives for National Geographic Founders
National Geographic Founder Helped Settle Disputes Over States’ Boundaries
Posted by Cathy Hunter on July 5, 2012 
Geographer Samuel Gannett helped found the National Geographic Society, but he may be better remembered for his work settling boundary disputes. One of his surveys led to a 1930 Supreme Court decision that allowed Texas to take back over 85,000 acres from Oklahoma.
How America’s Leading Hydrographer Helped Found The National Geographic Society
Posted by Cathy Hunter on June 27, 2012 
Henry Mitchell was a charming man with the gift of conversation and a sense of humor. Though the details of his profession–hydrography–may have been lost on his friends, his status among his peers could not have been higher. In his prime, Mitchell was one of the most respected figures in the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, oldest of the government’s scientific bureaus. He was also one of the principal founders of the National Geographic Society.
Marcus Baker: National Geographic Founder and Editor
Posted by Cathy Hunter on June 21, 2012 
In late 1872, Dr. William H. Dall was in San Francisco preparing to return to Alaska, where he had been directing a geographical reconnaissance of the Aleutian Islands. Unfortunately, his former assistant was not returning with him, and Dall despaired of finding another who would willingly undertake a difficult project that might last several years. Happily, Dall soon found just the man, a young graduate of the University of Michigan named Marcus Baker. Baker had never even seen the sea before. But the two men went on to complete the work, becoming fast friends, and eventually they helped found the National Geographic Society.
William Dall: National Geographic Founder and Pioneer of Alaskan Exploration
Posted by Cathy Hunter on June 15, 2012 
Despite William Dall’s reputation in scientific circles of the day, his memory is now largely forgotten, but his legacy lives on in the wealth of plants, animals, and places bearing his name: Ovis dalli, the majestic Dall sheep, as well as the Dall River, a tributary of the Yukon, and hundreds upon hundreds of mollusks.
Charles J. Bell: Family Banker and National Geographic Founder
Posted by Cathy Hunter on June 8, 2012 
The thirty-three founders of the National Geographic Society were an adventurous and accomplished group. They included scientists, explorers, a journalist and a superintendent of the National Zoo. In recognition of the National Geographic Society’s upcoming 125th anniversary this series takes a look at their stories. By Mark Collins Jenkins Though in no sense an ordinary…
Cleveland “Old Probabilities” Abbe: Forecaster and National Geographic Founder
Posted by Cathy Hunter on May 31, 2012 
For National Geographic Society founder Cleveland Abbe, a childhood interest in weather grew into the firm conviction that there must be a better way of forecasting than relying on “local lore and weather proverbs.” Abbe put scientific meteorology on the map, and even non-scientists became familiar with his predictions, including Mark Twain — although the writer had less-than-flattering things to say about Abbe’s forecasting abilities.
Henry Gannett: National Geographic Founder and “The Man Whose Brain Conceived It”
Posted by Cathy Hunter on May 22, 2012 
Self-effacing, loath to talk about himself or his accomplishments — to this day Henry Gannett remains a man of reports, statistics, and above all, maps. But his colleagues thought highly of him, so much so that when Gannett was elected the president of the National Geographic Society in 1910, the eminent geologist G.K. Gilbert wrote “…to congratulate the N.G.S. that it has at last put to the fore the man whose brain conceived it.”
John Wesley Powell: Soldier, Explorer, Scientist and National Geographic Founder
Posted by Cathy Hunter on May 17, 2012 
John Wesley Powell was 5’6″, had only one arm, and wore a beard described as “tumultuous.” His own sister considered him the homeliest man she had ever seen. Nevertheless, this National Geographic Society founder was a celebrated explorer, contributing to the sciences of geomorphology and cultural anthropology, and proclaimed a land ethic so revolutionary in its implications that it was decades ahead of its time.
