author
Gardiner G. (Gardiner Greene) Hubbard
1822–1897
A driving force behind the early telephone industry, he helped turn Alexander Graham Bell’s invention into a business and went on to lead the first Bell Telephone Company. He also helped launch the National Geographic Society and the journal Science, linking his name to some of the most influential institutions in American science and communication.
1 Audiobook
South America
by Gardiner G. (Gardiner Greene) Hubbard
About the author
Born in Boston in 1822, Gardiner Greene Hubbard trained as a lawyer and became a businessman, investor, and public-minded reformer. He was deeply interested in education and communication, especially in improving opportunities for deaf students, a cause that connected him closely with Alexander Graham Bell.
Hubbard is best remembered for backing Bell’s telephone work and helping build the company that became the Bell Telephone Company, where he served as the first president. His energy was not limited to business: he also played a central role in founding the National Geographic Society and served as its first president.
He was one of the founders of the journal Science as well, showing how wide his interests ran across invention, publishing, and public knowledge. By the time of his death in 1897, he had left a mark on both modern communications and the institutions that brought science and geography to a broader audience.