Matthew Fontaine Maury Life and Letters

Matthew Fontaine Maury, United States Navy and Confederate States Navy is remembered for a number of accomplishments in his lifetime. Among them, founder of the science of oceanography, father of world meteorology, pathfinder of the seas, locator of the first transatlantic cable, advocate of naval reform and reorganization, champion for establishment of the U.S. Naval Academy, prophet of the Panama Canal, leader for international cooperation in Antarctic research, Inventor of the first electrically controlled submarine mine successfully used in warfare, introducer of chinchona (a medicinal plant that reduces fever) cultivation into Mexico, author of public school geographies, father of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute. The reader will discover many other ways Matthew Fontaine Maury's discoveries have benefited mankind by reading this book. Presented as a succession of letters of a lifetime with biographical "fill in" information, one will see not only the brilliant scientist, but the devoted family man as well.