It’s the birthday of Peter Benchley (1940-2006), best known as the author of Jaws (1974), which sold 20 million copies, and later as a prominent conservationist advocating for the protection of sharks and oceans.

Benchley was born in New York City into a literary family: his father was the novelist and children’s author Nathaniel Benchley, his grandfather the famous humorist and member of the Algonquin Round Table Robert Benchley. (Robert Benchley: “It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was too famous.”) Benchley went to Phillips Exeter Academy and then Harvard. During the summers Benchley was 15 and 16, his father paid him to write: “…my only duty was to sit alone in a room with a typewriter for four hours every day, or until I produced a thousand words, whichever came first.” It was a sort of experiment to see if Benchley could tolerate the isolation and discipline of a writer. Benchley liked the life and would eventually work as a journalist, novelist, and speechwriter for Lyndon Johnson.

The idea for Jaws simmered in Benchley’s head for many years, inspired by sharks he’d seen on fishing trips off Nantucket and by the true story of a fisherman who caught a 4,550 pound great white shark off Long Island. When Benchley finally wrote the novel, he figured nobody would care about a debut novel about a fish—and certainly nobody would make a movie about it. But the novel was published and a movie made by unknown director Steven Spielberg—the first-ever summer blockbuster—and suddenly certain little eight year old kids had trouble forcing themselves to go into the public pool or even a really deep bathtub, thanks to those terrifying commercials. (I mean, why chance it?)

Jaws is now considered one of the greatest American films of all time. Because it is.

Benchley would go on to write The Deep (1976), The Island (1979), and a handful of others, including The Beast (1991), a novel about a giant squid, a subject too often neglected in 20th century literature. Benchley died at 65 of pulmonary fibrosis, survived by his wife, three children, and five grandchildren.

Have a fine Wednesday, bearing in mind that we’re going to need a bigger boat, and stay scrupulously honest to the data.