Portraits and Personalities
Gerhard Mercator

Gerhard Kremer (in latinised form Mercator) was born in Rupelmonde in the County of Flanders and studied philosophy and mathematics in Louvain. He built mathematical instruments and undertook land surveying. In 1541 and 1551 he constructed two Globes, a terrestrial and a celestial, which can be seen today in the Museum of Culture and Local History. In 1544 he was imprisoned for a short time on suspicion of heresy. In 1552 he came with his family to Duisburg, apparently because he had heard of the intention to found a university there. In Duisburg he drew several maps, in particular the map of the world (1569) in the projection which bears his name. With this projection the spherical shape of the earth is transferred to the flat map-sheet in such a way that although the surfaces are distorted the angles are preserved. A year after his death there appeared the collection of maps of the then known world put together by him, to which he had given the name of "Atlas". The Mercator fountain on the Burgplatz in front of the city hall is a memorial to this famous son of Duisburg. On the occasion of the 400th anniversary of Mercator's death, the university, which had had no name until then, was formally named the "Gerhard-Mercator-University Duisburg".