Global Positioning System Reference
In-Depth Information
Mercator
Gerardus Mercator was born in 1512,
shortly after his family had moved to
Flanders from Germany. He received an
education in Christian doctrine, dialec-
tics, and Latin. The son of a shoemaker,
Mercator was able to study at Louvain
University only because of the generos-
ity of his uncle Gijsbrecht and graduated
in 1532 with a master's degree in phi-
losophy. After a three-year absence dur-
ing which he seemed to be assailed by
religious doubts, Mercator returned to
Louvain to study mathematics under the
influential Dutch mathematician, astron-
omer, and cartographer Gemma Frisius,
whom we met earlier. Both frequented
the workshop of skilled goldsmith and
engraver Gaspar à Myrica; these three men made Louvain a center for globe
and mapmaking. Mercator seems to have been very good with his hands
and learned to make scientific instruments (compasses, sundials), but he
earned a living from mapmaking—he was a superb engraver and calligra-
pher. At age 24, Mercator married Barbara Schellekens; they produced six
children, though five of these died young.
Mercator's first map (with Frisius and Myrica), of Palestine, was published
in 1537 and was an immediate success. He became famous three years later
with his accurate Flanders map, for which he surveyed land using the tri-
angulation method (surely an influence of Frisius). He also made terrestrial
and celestial globes, in 1541 and 1551.
Mercator was sympathetic to Protestantism and in 1544 was imprisoned
for seven months on suspicion of heresy. It was a sign of the intolerant times
in which he lived that suspicion about Mercator arose partly because of his
frequent absences from Louvain on mapmaking expeditions. The university
stood by him, however; when released, he was able to return to his former
duties and researches.
At age 42 Mercator moved permanently to Duisburg in what is now Ger-
many and set up a cartographic workshop. Here, he created his most im-
An engraving of Gerardus Mercator
by Nicholas de Larmessin.
Biblio-
theca Belgica
(1739), by Joannis Francisci
Foppens.
