Gerardus
Mercator (1512-1594)
Frontispiece to Mercator's Atlas sive Cosmographicae, 1585-1595.
Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Rare Book Division, Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection.
A map projection is used to portray all or part of the round Earth on a flat surface. This cannot be done without some distortion. For example, the basic Mercator projection is unique; it yields the only map on which a straight line drawn anywhere within its bounds shows a particular type of direction, but distances and areas are grossly distorted near the map's polar regions. It was introduced by Geradus Mercator in 1569.
Gerardus
Mercator
The Mercator projection was developed
in 1569 by Gerardus Mercator as a navigation tool.
Gerardus
Mercator
The map projection that bears his
name he first used in 1569. He is also the first to use the term 'atlas'
for a collection of maps.
Renaissance
Mapmaker
Gerhard Kremer, or Gerardus Mercator
was the leading mapmaker of the 15th Century.
Related Information
Belgian
Inventors
Nicholas
Copernicus - Globes
Armillary Sphere
