Gerardus Mercator was a Renaissance man who devoted his life to the world of cartography. He has made some of the greatest contributions in this field and without these contributions maps would be quite different today.
             Gerardus Mercator was born Gerhard Kremer of German parents in the town of Rapelmonde near Antwerp on March 5, 1512. He was educated at 'sHertogenbosch in the Netherlands (Englehart, 1959). Like many other intellectuals of his time, very early in his life he Latinized his German name, which meant 'merchant,' and changed it to the name by which we know him. Mercator means 'world trader' (Groliers, 1997). He changed his name upon entering the University of Louvain in 1530 where he studied the humanities and philosophy. He graduated from Louvain with an M.A. in 1532 (Browne, 1963).
             A new visual world was opening like a flower around Mercator. Ships came back from the Americas with stories and drawings of a wondrous new land. All that information fed the Renaissance belief that you learn by looking closely and critically at the external world. In a hundred years that new visual sense would give birth to modern experimental science.
             After graduating, Mercator began to have worries on how to reconcile the account of the origin of the universe given in the Bible with that given by Arestotle. He traveled to a number of places, including Antwerp and Mechelen, while going through this personal crisis. His travels did little for his religious worries but gave him a deep interest in geography.
             Mercator returned to Louvain where he now studied mathematics under Gemma Frisius. He also learnt about the application of mathematics to geography and astronomy. He learnt to be an engraver and instrument maker at this time from Gaspar Myrica (Osley, 1969). In 1535-1536 Mercator working in Louvain with Myrica and with Frisius constructed a terrestrial globe. In 1537 they constructed a globe of the stars. ...