GEOGRAPHER

Gerardus Mercator

1512 - 1594

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Gerardus Mercator (; 5 March 1512 – 2 December 1594) 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 (rhumb lines) as straight lines—an innovation that is still employed in nautical charts. Mercator was a notable maker of globes and scientific instruments. In addition, he had interests in theology, philosophy, history, mathematics, and geomagnetism. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Gerardus Mercator is the 4th most popular geographer, the 13th most popular biography from Belgium (down from 9th in 2019) and the most popular Belgian Geographer.

Gerardus Mercator is most famous for the Mercator Projection, which is a map projection that shows the earth as a sphere.

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Among GEOGRAPHERS

Among geographers, Gerardus Mercator ranks 4 out of 86. Before him are Eratosthenes, Strabo, and Alexander von Humboldt. After him are Muhammad al-Idrisi, Piri Reis, Pausanias, Abraham Ortelius, Martin Waldseemüller, Carl Ritter, David Harvey, and Ferdinand von Richthofen.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1512, Gerardus Mercator ranks 2. Before him is James V of Scotland. After him are Catherine Parr, Judah Loew ben Bezalel, Henry, King of Portugal, Manco Inca Yupanqui, Niccolò dell'Abbate, Devlet I Giray, Sibylle of Cleves, Robert Recorde, Mikołaj "the Red" Radziwiłł, and Prospero Fontana. Among people deceased in 1594, Gerardus Mercator ranks 3. Before him are Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, and Tintoretto. After him are Orlande de Lassus, Ishikawa Goemon, Archduchess Eleanor of Austria, Martin Frobisher, Alonso de Ercilla, Thomas Kyd, Bálint Balassi, William Allen, and Girolamo Mei.

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In Belgium

Among people born in Belgium, Gerardus Mercator ranks 13 out of 1,190. Before him are Maurice Maeterlinck (1862), Ursula von der Leyen (1958), Philip I of Castile (1478), John of Gaunt (1340), Andreas Vesalius (1514), and Anthony van Dyck (1599). After him are René Magritte (1898), Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908), Leopold II of Belgium (1835), Orlande de Lassus (1534), Carlota of Mexico (1840), and Guillaume Du Fay (1397).

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Among GEOGRAPHERS In Belgium

Among geographers born in Belgium, Gerardus Mercator ranks 1. After him are Abraham Ortelius (1527), and Jodocus Hondius (1563).

Belgian born Geographers

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