The Physical Geography of the Sea is published
Maury's book, published by Harper & Brothers, drew the ocean as a connected system of winds, currents and basins and is commonly described as the first textbook of modern oceanography. It also propagated the claim that the Gulf Stream is responsible for the mildness of northwest European winters — an explanation that outlived almost everything else in the book and was not seriously tested for nearly a century and a half.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- Matthew Fontaine Maury · person · United States · not located
- Gulf Stream · natural phenomenon · North Atlantic — Florida Straits to the Grand Banks
- Meridional Ocean Heat Transport · physical quantity · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
The Physical Geography of the Sea
The first comprehensive treatment of ocean winds and currents as a system, compiled from standardised ships' logbooks; commonly described as the first textbook of modern oceanography. The digitised volume was identified but not read; biographical facts about Maury come from Naval History and Heritage Command and encyclopaedia entries read via search summary.
Harper & Brothers, New York · 1855 · Partly verified
Maury, M. F., The Physical Geography of the Sea (1855); digitised copy at Smithsonian Libraries, library.si.edu/digital-library/book/physicalgeograp00maura
Recorded on Matthew Fontaine Maury
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.