Zéphyrin Xirdal. Need I say more?

Michel Verne 

Ah, "The Chase for the Golden Meteor", another pessimistic Jules Verne classic! Apparently, the canonical edition is actually rewritten by Verne's son Michel, to the point of introducing a new main character, the amusing "mad scientist" Zéphyrin Xirdal. Monsieur Xirdal must have the weirdest name in the history of science fiction (apart from Jar Jar Binks, I suppose). The story itself is a semi-humorous criticism of greed, vanity and (perhaps) mad scientists, in keeping with late Verne's turn to pessimism about the human condition.

A golden meteor is about to impact on Earth, and all nations of the world (if I remember correctly, even Andorra) want to claim it. So do the two rival astronomers who discovered the space valuable, but they are all worsted by Zéphyrin, who has invented a mysterious device which makes it possible for him to control the meteor and its trajectory. I won't reveal how the story ends, except that Jar Jar, er, Xirdal turns out to be a somewhat more sympathetic person in the end...

Verne's original manuscript have been found, published and translated as "The Meteor Hunt". I haven't read the original version, but it seems that Michel's changes actually improved the story. I think. I mean, I only read it once...about 30 years ago!

:D