Scientist sails with Cook to make history

Sailors and scientists must be among the most difficult people to write about. They resist the internalemotional eye of the novelist, stubbornly insisting their lives be defined by the external and the intellectual.Unlike other celebrities, their achievements and discoveries may be rather more interesting than theirpersonalities and lifestyles. If that is the case, then AN Wilson has a double challenge in writing aboutPolish-born Enlightenment scholar-scientist Georg Forster and his voyage with our pre-eminent historicalsailor, James Cook.