Mercator: the Man Who Mapped the Planet.NICHOLAS CRANE Nicholas Crane (born 1954, Hastings) is a British explorer, writer and broadcaster. Most recently, he has written and presented two television series for BBC Two. He grew up in Norfolk. Before 1568, navigation charts used by sailors didn't correctly account for the fact that the world is round. Gerard Mercator, born early in the 16th century to a cobbler in northern Europe, would be the man to solve the riddle that had vexed cartographers Cartography is the study of map making and cartographers are map makers. Before 1400
NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. employed it in mapping Mars. Mercator was also the creator of the world's first atlas and made possible the depiction of the world with overlapping, uniform maps. Crane's biography of this cartographer is an engaging account of these accomplishments set against the backdrop of the Inquisition, under which Mercator was persecuted and imprisoned im·pris·on tr.v. im·pris·oned, im·pris·on·ing, im·pris·ons To put in or as if in prison; confine. [Middle English emprisonen, from Old French emprisoner : en- . A key to the story is Mercator's personal struggle to reconcile his religious beliefs with Aristotelian science. Because Mercator lived to be 82 years old, he saw about twice as much of life as most of his contemporaries did, a fact that provides Crane another compelling angle in recounting Mercator's life and times. Originally published in Great Britain Great Britain, officially United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, constitutional monarchy (2005 est. pop. 60,441,000), 94,226 sq mi (244,044 sq km), on the British Isles, off W Europe. The country is often referred to simply as Britain. in 2002. H Holt & Co, 2003, 348 p., b&w plates/illus., hardcover, $26.00. |
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