who is Robert Walton and what is revealed about his back ground?

Robert Walton is a scientist who is conducting research in the Arctic. Walton captains a North Pole–bound ship that gets trapped between sheets of ice. His letters to his sister Margaret Saville, in England, open and close the book. He is the one who rescues Victor Frankenstein and records his story. In many ways he and Victor are similar, explorers at heart. He is sympathetic to Victor's story. He shares the same indipendent passion for discovery and the unknown that Victor has. He prefers the intrepid life of an explorer in the company of men.