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Mercator

Full Name: Gerardus Mercator

Nickname/Alias: born:Gerhard Kremer

Achievements: Mercator projection (atlas)

Born: March 5, 1512; Rupelmonde, East Flanders (now in Belgium)

Died: December 2, 1594; Duisburg, Duchy of Cleve (Germany) (Aged 82)

Field & Discipline: Geography; Cartography

Language: French

Father: Unknown

Mother: Unknown

Siblings: Unknown

Spouse: Barbara Schellekens (m. 1534)

Children: Six children, including three sons: Arnold, Rumold (d. 1599); Bartholomeus

Education: Hertogenbosch; University of Louvain (1530-32)

Major Work:

“Carta Navigatoria: Nova et aucta orbis terrae descripto ad usum navigantium emendate accommodata” (1569)

Life & Times:

After graduating, Mercator become interested in mathematics, geography and astronomy, and studied privately with Rainer Gemma Frisius, a leading mathematician, physician and astronomer.

By 1533 Mercator began work on the construction of two globes, one terrestial and one celestial, which were completed in 1536-37. During this same period Mercator also began manufacturing scientific instruments, working as a land surveyor, and teaching geography and astronomy.

The combined work of Mercator, and Gemma Frisius made Louvain an important center for the construction of globes, maps and astronomical instruments. In 1537, still only 25, Mercator produced what is believed to be his first independent work, a map in six sheets of the Holy Land.

This was followed in 1538 with his first map of the world, based on a double, heart-shaped projection, and one of the first attempts to define a southern continent, the existence of which remained theoretical for many years. These two accomplished maps quickly established Mercator as the leading cartographer of his time and he was commissioned, in 1540, to produce a flat map of Flanders.

In 1541, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles [commissioned by] V* commissioned Mercator to make a set of astronomical instruments, and during the 1540s he constructed a terrestrial and a celestial globe.

However, in 1544, Mercator - who was known as a Protestant sympathizer - was arrested as a heretic by the Spanish Inquisition, and imprisoned for seven months. He was released through the support of the Louvain university authorities, and was allowed to resume work.

But Mercator, concerned for his family's safety in Catholic Flanders, in 1552 accepted an offer to move to Duisberg, Germany, where he became cosmographer to Duke Wilhelm of Cleves-Julich-Berg. In 1554 he published a 15-sheet map of Europe, notable for the corrections he made to the distorted representation of the Mediterranean Sea done by by the ancient Greek geographer Ptolemy.

Between 1559 and 1562 he travelled throughout Europe accompanied by the young cartographer [travelled with] Ortelius*, taught mathematics in the new grammar school, did genealogical research for Duke Wilhelm, drew up a Concordance of the Gospels, and composed a detailed commentary on the first part of the Letter of Paul to the Romans. In 1563 he completed a map of Lorraine for the Duke (now lost), and in 1564 he issued an 8-sheet map of the British Isles.

During the 1560s Mercator worked on his “projection,” a method of mathematical cartography (possibly invented as early as 1511, but only widely accepted after Mercator) by which a world map is projected onto a cylinder so that the meridians become equally spaced, parallel vertical lines, and the parallels of latitude become parallel, horizontal straight lines, spaced farther and farther apart as their distance from the Equator increases. lateral and vertical distortions are deliberately created in order to show all compass courses as straight lines which intersect the meridians and parallels at constant angles.

This "opening out" of the top and bottom of the globe, allowing expansion to the same width as the Equator, made it possible for navigators to plot a straight-line course on the map without continual adjustment of compass readings, because any straight line on a Mercator-projection map is a line of constant true bearing. (Although mariners had to take into account that this method distorts the scale - making areas farther away from the Equator appear disproportionately large - e.g. Greenland - and that distances S-N and N-S of the Equator are increased).

With the publication of his famous 18-sheet world map for navigators using this method, the “Nova et aucta orbis terrae descripto ad usum navigantium emendate accommodata” (1569), Mercator's technique became known as the “Mercator projection.”

Also in 1569, Mercator published his “Chronologia,” an astronomical and cartographic survey of the world from the Creation to 1568, and four years later he issued a revised version of his earlier (1554) 15-sheet map of Europe, published by the famous French printer [published by] Plantin* as “Europae Descriptio Emendata” (1572). These works were the first part of a giant project - never completed – to which he added the engravings for a set of 27 maps for a new edition of Ptolemy's “Geography,” which he published with corrections and commentary in 1578.

Mercator then worked on his “Atlas,” a word he invented for a collection of maps, which he designed, engraved and published during his last years. Using information from all the leading geographers of the day ( specially the British geographer [used data from] Hakluyt* - Mercator produced a collection of remarkably accurate maps of western and southern Europe, the first part (with 51 maps of France, Germany and the Netherlands) appearing in 1585. On the cover was a drawing of Atlas holding a globe. The second part (with 23 maps of Italy, the Balkans and Greece) appeared in 1590.

After Mercator's death in 1594, at the age of 82, his son, Rumold, published the third part - with 36 maps of the British Isles - in 1595, in an edition which included the previous sections under the title “Atlas - or Cosmographic Meditations on the Structure of the World.”

Another printing followed in 1602, and further maps were added by the cartographer Hondius - who had bought the map copperplates from the Mercator family - in a later edition of 1606, published in Amsterdam and usually called the "Mercator-Hondius Atlas." This was only superseded by [superseded by] Blaeuw's* “Atlas” (1630), who in turn bought a large number of Mercator's plates from Hondius.

Extra Connections: Knew painter [knew] Peter Brueghel the Elder*

[his work used by] William Jones* developed mathematical navigation models based on his work.

His work was used by [work used by] Dudley*

Assessment: Foremost Flemish cartographer whose most important innovation was the development of a cylindrical projection, later known as the Mercator projection.

Oneliner: G. Mercator, inventor of the cartographic Mercator projection

Bibliography:

Attachments