Claudius Ptolemy (Cartographer)

Claudius Ptolemy was an influential Greco-Roman astronomer, mathematician, and cartographer active in the 2nd century CE. He authored "Geographia," a comprehensive compilation of geographic knowledge, presenting a systematic way to represent the world's layout using coordinates. Ptolemy's maps combined observations and estimations, introducing concepts like latitude, longitude, and map projection, which laid foundational principles for later cartography. His work significantly influenced medieval and Renaissance mapping, shaping how people understood and visualized the world for centuries.