FATHER HURRICANE by artist Frau Sakra

Ink and watercolor in frame painted with oils, 16.75 x 20.75."  

Father Benito Viñes, also known as “Father Hurricane,” was a Spanish-born Jesuit priest and scientist who took charge of the Belén Observatory in Havana, Cuba, in the 1870s and greatly improved the prediction of hurricanes that affected islands in the Caribbean Sea. Viñes is considered a pioneer of tropical meteorology. His work saved lives and property and led to better sharing of information about hurricanes as well as better use of science to predict and study them. It is said that, while directing the Observatory, he continued to fulfill his duties as a priest, which included celebrating mass daily.