Mercator Projection

   The famous Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator (1512-1594) was given at birth the name Gerhard, the family name being Kremer (meaning shopkeeper or merchant), but he preferred the Latinized version of his full name. Mercator set up a geographical center at Louvain, was employed by Charles V, and then devoted the rest of his days to map making. His works included several accurate maps and globes, which freed geographers from "the tyranny of Ptolemy." That distinguished Greco-Egyptian mathematician and astronomer had underestimated the earth's size.

   Mercator became the father of modern cartography. He revolutionized map making, adjusting for the difference between a flat surface (used for all maps) and the earth's curves, scaling and projecting each point on the map. He then devised the world as a globe rather than a cone, setting up on his cylindrical charts meridians as straight lines perpendicular to the equator and latiitudes as straight lines parallel to the equator. This innovation made navigating simpler and safer and came to be known as Mercator projection.

   Mercator was accused of heresy, and fled to Duisberg, Germany in 1559. He accepted the Chair of Cosmography at the Louvian University and performed most of his important work there. His charts, first used by him in 1568, have been in use ever since.