Melville Bell Grosvenor
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Melville Bell Grosvenor was the president of the National Geographic Society and editor of National Geographic Magazine from 1957 to 1969.
A photography enthusiast, he increased the size of printed photographs and initiated the practice, that continues to this day, of opening articles with a two-page photo feature. He also reduced the name of the publication from The National Geographic Magazine to National Geographic.
Under Melville's tenure, National Geographic also began to branch out from land expeditions to cover investigations into space and the deep sea.
Melville also expanded the scope of the society's operations, branching into the production of documentaries; four of these, bearing the National Geographic name, began airing on television per year. Among the most notable such features produced during Melville's presidency involved the first American expedition to Mount Everest and Jacques Cousteau's underwater exploits.
He was the son of Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor and the grandson of telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell. His son, Gilbert Melville Grosvenor, edited the magazine in the 1970s and 80s.
[edit] Further reading
- Poole, Robert M. Explorers House: National Geographic and the World it Made. New York: Penguin, 2004. {ISBN|1594200327}
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