Gerardus Mercator changed the way we see the world. Of how many men can that be said so literally? He was born 500 years ago in Flanders, studied astronomy and mathematics, and drew his first major ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The Mercator map, created ...

To celebrate his 503rd birthday, Flemish mathematician and cartographer Gerardus Mercator, who in 1569 discovered how to create a flat map that takes into consideration the curvatures of the earth, ...

Developed in the sixteenth century by Gerardus Mercator, this projection was created for sailors who navigated using a compass. Because the Mercator projection allows map users to draw a straight line ...