North American Explorer who rediscovered the Mayan civilization.
A child Prodigy, he enrolled at Columbia at age 13 and graduated four years later.
He came upon the first Mayan ruins quite by accident, and then from there continued to find related sites.
He was born into a prosperous merchant family.
Martin Van Buren appointed him as the the Special Ambassador to Central America, where he witnessed its federation of states break apart.
