Gerardus Mercator Father of Modern Mapmaking |
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Author:
| Heinrichs, Ann |
Contribution by:
| Karrow, Robert W. Palmer, Rosemary G. |
Series title: | Signature Lives: Scientific Revolution Ser. |
ISBN: | 978-0-7565-3312-0 |
Publication Date: | Jul 2007 |
Publisher: | Capstone
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Imprint: | Compass Point Books |
Book Format: | Hardback |
List Price: | USD $23.95USD $35.32 |
Book Description:
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Sixteenth-century geographer Gerardus Mercator was born in 1512 in Rupelmonde, Flanders. He lived during a time of religious strife and for a time was imprisoned for heresy. Mercator began his career as a maker of mathematical instruments, but he won lasting renown with his world map of 1569, which introduced a new way of showing the spherical earth on a flat sheet of paper. This method, called the Mercator projection, is still used today. His 1585 book, titled Atlas, was the first to...
More DescriptionSixteenth-century geographer Gerardus Mercator was born in 1512 in Rupelmonde, Flanders. He lived during a time of religious strife and for a time was imprisoned for heresy. Mercator began his career as a maker of mathematical instruments, but he won lasting renown with his world map of 1569, which introduced a new way of showing the spherical earth on a flat sheet of paper. This method, called the Mercator projection, is still used today. His 1585 book, titled Atlas, was the first to use that word to describe a collection of maps.