Matthew Fontaine Maury

Matthew Fontaine Maury ( born January 14, 1806 Spotsylvania, Virginia; † February 1, 1873 in Lexington ) was an American naval officer and hydro Graf.

Biography

After his training, Maury served from 1837 to 1839 as a naval officer in the U.S. Navy. A fall from a horse-drawn carriage tour, in which he broke his hip and a never- healing knee injury it was, ended his active service. But he was able to stay in the Navy and began to collect logs from overseas ships and study. In 1842, Maury Director of the Archive of charts and 1844 the Nautical Observatory in Washington, DC

As a sailor, he observed that the captains enlisted all their findings on weather conditions, opposing winds, currents and other features of weather and sea conditions in their logbooks. But there they were denied and others were forgotten. In the Observatory he found tons of old log books and maps, stored in crates going back to the 18th century - to the beginnings of the Navy. Maury she studied and collected all the information from winds, calms, winds, currents, pastures, cross-currents of all the seas in all seasons. His dream and goal was to make all these findings separately acquired all sea captains available to make safer and faster travel. The Walwanderungen he could read from some sources and carried them into special cards because in his time the Walwanderungen were largely unknown, and whalers spent many months and years of useless on the seas, since it depends on migratory behavior and the respective visits of whale not knew.

Published in 1845 Maury first wind and current cards ( Wind and Current Chart of the North Atlantic, Sailing Directions and Physical Geography of the Seas and Its Meteorology ). Based on the maps, most trips could be drastically reduced. At his suggestion, was started in 1847 with meteorological observations on board ships. Maury 1853 suggested the convening of the first International Hydrographic Conference. He published in 1854 the first depth chart of the North Atlantic and 1855 The Physical Geography of the Sea, which is considered the first description of the physical oceanography. The book has been translated into three languages ​​and was a great success. For the first time in it the role of the Gulf Stream in the air forming over the northern hemisphere will be honored in detail.

In the American Civil War, Maury 1861 joined the American South (CSA ) and commenced their coastal defense. After the Civil War he was appointed in 1868 professor at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington.

Maury was a supporter of the very popular in the 19th century, the same towards the end, however, clearly disproved theory of the ice-free Arctic Ocean.

1935, the lunar crater Maury was named after him and the astronomer Antonia Maury.

In 1939 a biographical short film entitled Prophet Without Honor, which was nominated the following year for the Oscar for best short film.

Honors

• He received in 1855 for his "services to cruise on the North Atlantic ", the sixth Bremische Gold Medal of Honor of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen.
• A monument of Frederick William Sievers was erected in 1929 in Richmond, Virginia (USA).
• The Maury Hall at the University of Virginia bears his name.
• The Maury Hall of a department of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland bears his name.
• Several ships bore his name, including as USS Maury and as USS Commodore Maury.
• The Lake Maury in Newport News, Virginia, bears his name.
• A university in Norfolk, Virginia was named after him.
• The Maury Elementary School in Alexandria, Virginia bears his name.

Works (selection)

• On the Navigation of Cape Horn.
• Explanations and Sailing Directions to Accompany the Wind and Current. Charts, 1851, 1854, 1855.
• Amazon and the Atlantic Slopes of South America. 1853.
• The Physical Geography of the Sea. 1855, 1856, 1859
• The Physical Geography of the Sea and Its Meteorology. , 1861.
• Maury 's New Elements of Geography for Primary and Intermediate Classes.