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Gerardus Mercator

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The Resume

    (March 5, 1512-November 2, 1594)
    Born in Rupelmonde, Belgium
    Birth name was Gheert Cremer
    Engraver and cartographer
    Published 'Nova et Aucta Orbis Terrae Descripto ad Usum Navigatium Emendate' ('New and Augmented Description of Earth Corrected for the Use of Navigation')
    Developed the Mercator projection in which latitude and longitude are represented by straight lines

Why he might be annoying:

    He was imprisoned for seven months on suspicion of heresy.
    Although he developed Mercator projection for marine navigation, it could not be used for that purpose for two centuries, since there was no way for a ship to accurately determine its longitude.
    A Mercator projection map distorts areas near the poles, so that Greenland appears the same size as Africa, whereas Africa is actually almost 14 times larger.
    As a result, Mercator projection has largely fallen out of favor for world maps.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was the first cartographer to use the word 'atlas' for a collection of maps.
    His maps of Europe were praised for their accuracy.
    He produced the first celestial globe based on Copernicus' model of the universe.
    Google Maps still uses Mercator projection.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 73 Votes: 60.27% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 6 Votes: 16.67% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 8 Votes: 37.50% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 13 Votes: 15.38% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 18 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 6 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 24 Votes: 37.50% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 34 Votes: 38.24% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 9 Votes: 11.11% Annoying