Gerardus mercator biography examples
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Gerardus Mercator
If you have ever seen a map of the world in a classroom or in an atlas, chances are you have seen the work of Gerardus Mercator, a 16th-century Flemish cartographer (mapmaker). His most famous work, the Mercator projection, is a geographical chart where the spherical globe is flattened into a two-dimensional map, with latitude and longitude lines drawn in a straight grid. Mercator’s view of the world is one that has endured through the centuries and still helps navigators today.
Mercator was born in Flanders (located in modern-day Belgium) in 1512. The son of a cobbler, Mercator grew up in a poor family. He graduated from the University of Louvain in 1532, where he studied mathematics, geography, and astronomy. After graduating, Mercator developed his skills as an engraver, calligrapher, and geographer, and then began making globes and scientific instruments. As his reputation grew, Mercator published several maps of places around the world. These included an early version of his world map, which showed the globe as a heart-shaped projection.
He continued studying the sciences and making maps and instruments for wealthy, and sometimes high-profile, clients. But in 1544, Mercator was arrested under suspicion of heresy; the traveling he did for research had
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Gerardus Mercator facts for kids
Gerardus Mercator (; 5 March 1512 – 2 December 1594) was a Flemishgeographer, cosmographer and cartographer. He is most renowned for creating the 1569 world map based on a new projection which represented sailing courses of constant bearing (rhumb lines) as straight lines—an innovation that is still employed in nautical charts.
Mercator was a highly influential pioneer in the history of cartography. Along with Gemma Frisius and Abraham Ortelius, he is generally considered one of the founders of the Netherlandish school of cartography and geography. He is also widely considered the most notable figure of the school. In his own day, he was a notable maker of globes and scientific instruments. In addition, he had interests in theology, philosophy, history, mathematics and geomagnetism. He was also an accomplished engraver and calligrapher. Unlike other great scholars of the age, he travelled little and his knowledge of geography came from his library of over a thousand books and maps, from his visitors and from his vast correspondence (in six languages) with other scholars, statesmen, travellers, merchants and seamen. Mercator's early maps were in large formats suitable for wall mounting but in the second half of his life, he produced over 100
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Biography
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