Mercator: The Man who Mapped the Planet
Dec 2010 · Hachette UK
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About this ebook
A biography of the genius who mapped the world and for ever changed the face of the planet - by a bestselling author.
Gerard Mercator (1512-1594) was born at the dawn of the Age of Discovery, when the world was beginning to be discovered and carved up by navigators, geographers and cartographers. Mercator was the greatest and most ingenious cartographer of them all: it was he who coined the word 'atlas' and solved the riddle of converting the three-dimensional globe into a two-dimensional map while retaining true compass bearings.
It is Mercator's Projection that NASA are using today to map Mars. How did Mercator reconcile his religious beliefs with a science that would make Christian maps obsolete? How did a man whose imagination roamed continents endure imprisonment by the Inquisition? Crane brings this great man vividly to life, underlying it with colour illustrations of the maps themselves: maps that brought to a rapt public wonders as remarkable as today's cyber-world.
Gerard Mercator (1512-1594) was born at the dawn of the Age of Discovery, when the world was beginning to be discovered and carved up by navigators, geographers and cartographers. Mercator was the greatest and most ingenious cartographer of them all: it was he who coined the word 'atlas' and solved the riddle of converting the three-dimensional globe into a two-dimensional map while retaining true compass bearings.
It is Mercator's Projection that NASA are using today to map Mars. How did Mercator reconcile his religious beliefs with a science that would make Christian maps obsolete? How did a man whose imagination roamed continents endure imprisonment by the Inquisition? Crane brings this great man vividly to life, underlying it with colour illustrations of the maps themselves: maps that brought to a rapt public wonders as remarkable as today's cyber-world.
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About the author
Nicholas Crane is an author, geographer and the recipient of numerous awards, most recently the 2024 Stanfords Award for Outstanding Contribution to Travel Writing. Crane was born in seaside Hastings, grew up in rural Norfolk and learned winter mountaineering in snowy Scotland. Between 2015 and 2018, he was president of the Royal Geographical Society. He is also known for his television work as lead presenter on the BAFTA-winning series COAST, among several others. He has written more than ten books, including The Making of the British Landscape.
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