Gerardus Mercator, Flemish mathematician, cartographer, and philosopher (born 1512)

Gerardus Mercator

Flemish cartographer (1512–1594)

Gerardus Mercator was a Flemish geographer, 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 as straight lines—an innovation that is still employed in nautical…