Who is Edward Wilson from Fugitive Pieces and what is their importance?

Edward Wilson was a Canadian scientist and gifted watercolorist. He accompanied Captain Robert Scott on his South Pole expedition and becames a hero to young Jakob Beer. Lying on the roof in Zakynthos, Greece, watching the stars, Jakob imagines what Wilson sees and does and the doomed explorers' final hours, starving and freezing in a tent, eleven miles from abundant food.