Our Greatest Adventures Are Ahead of Us John Fahey, Chairman and
CEO of National Geographic Photograph courtesy National
Geographic Stock Sometimes, a century and a quarter of solving
ancient mysteries, unearthing lost civilizations, and
discovering elusive creatures begins with a simple invitation.
That is how, 125 years ago today, 33 of America's foremost
scientists and explorers found themselves meeting across the
street from the White House, summoned to consider "the
advisability of organizing a society for the increase and
diffusion of geographical knowledge." The men were mapmakers and
meteorologists, a one-armed Civil War hero and a naturalist with
a fondness for roasted skunk. They had climbed America's highest
mountains, marked out its coastlines, documented its plants and
animals, and traced the path of its storms. To a person, their
favorite adventure was "the next one." But for that one night on
January 13, 1888, these restless men stood still. By the end of
it, they had voted to create an organiz