Gerard Mercator

Gerard Mercator was a 16th-century Flemish cartographer and mathematician best known for creating the Mercator projection, a map that represents the Earth's surface. His projection preserves straight lines as constant compass directions, making navigation easier for sailors. Although it distorts the size of landmasses near the poles, it revolutionized maritime navigation by enabling sailors to plot straight-line courses. Mercator's work significantly advanced map-making and contributed to our understanding of geography, influencing how maps are designed and used even today.