(1512 - 1594)
Gerard Marcator was born at Rupelmonde, Antwerp. He worked as a geographer, astronomer, globe-maker, engraver, cartographer, surveyor, mathematician and publisher. He studied philosophy and maths under Gemma Frisius at the Leuven University, moving to Disburg in 1552. In c.1563 he was appointed Cosmographer to Duke William V of Jülich, Kleve and Berg. In 1569 he introduced the Mercator projection, a method of representing the surface of the world on a flat plane. Marcator’s name first appeared on a map of the Holy Land in 1537. His last known works are maps of Italy and Southern Europe for installments of ‘Tabulae Geographicae’ (published 1589). After he died in Duisburg, aged about 82, his five volume cosmography was completed by his son.
