FitzRoy: The Remarkable Story of Darwins Captain and the Invention of the Weather Forecast

ISBN: 0300103611

Author: Gribbin, John

Condition: New

The name of Robert FitzRoy, captain of the Beagle, is forever linked with that of his most famous passenger, Charles Darwin. This exceptionally interesting biography brings FitzRoy out of Darwins shadow for the first time, revealing a man who experienced high adventure, suffered tragic disappointments, andas the inventor of weather forecastingsaved the lives of countless fellow mariners.John Gribbin and Mary Gribbin draw a detailed portrait of FitzRoy, recounting the wide range of his accomplishments and exploring the motivations that drove him. As a very young and successful commander in the British navy, FitzRoys life was in the mold of a Patrick OBrian novel. Later disappointments, including an unpopular tenure as governor of New Zealand and a sense of dismay over his own contributions to Darwins ideas of evolution, troubled FitzRoy. Even his groundbreaking accomplishments in meteorological science failed to satisfy his high personal expectations, and in 1865 FitzRoy committed suicide at the age of sixty. This biography focuses well-deserved attention on FitzRoys status as a scientist and seaman, affirming that his was a life which, despite its sorrowful end, encompassed many more successes than failures.