Gerardus Mercator - Gerardo Mercator- Notable Biographies

(1512/03/05 - 1594/12/05)

Gerardus Mercator
Gerhard Kremer
Geographer, cartographer and mathematician flamenco

He was born March 5, 1512, in Rupelmonde, in what was then the country of Flanders, currently Belgium.
He studied at the University of Louvain.
In the year 1537 he made his first map. In 1568 he devised a system of projection of maps that bears his name.
This system represents the meridians and Parallels of length as straight lines that intersect with the meridians at right angles and parallel lines. Widely used in navigation, allows plotting a route in a straight line between two points on a map, which you can follow without changing the direction of the magnetic or compass.
The call 'Mercator projection', by its creator, Gerardus Mercator, for 400 years has been accepted as the true representation of our planet flat.
It was also the first to use the name of "atlas" to designate a set of maps and gained fame in his time, not only as a cartographer , but also as a geographer.
It is interesting to mention that in 1544 he was arrested on a charge of heresy, from which came out well RID.
Gerardus Mercator died in Duisburg, Germany, December 5, 1594.