Nicholas (Nikolaus) Mercator (c. 1620,

Holstein Holstein (; nds, label=Northern Low Saxon, Holsteen; da, Holsten; Latin and historical en, Holsatia, italic=yes) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of German ...

– 1687,

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), also known by his

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name Kauffmann, was a 17th-century

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

. He was born in

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and educated at

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and Leyden after which he lived from 1642 to 1648 in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. He lectured at the

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during 1648–1654 and lived in

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from 1655 to 1657. He was mathematics tutor to Joscelyne Percy, son of the 10th Earl of Northumberland, at

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(1657). He taught mathematics in London (1658–1682). On 3 May 1661 he observed a transit of Mercury with

Christiaan Huygens Christiaan Huygens, Lord of Zeelhem, ( , , ; also spelled Huyghens; la, Hugenius; 14 April 1629 – 8 July 1695) was a Dutch mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor, who is regarded as one of the greatest scientists o ...

and Thomas Streete from

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, London. On 14 November 1666 he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemati ...

. He designed a marine chronometer for Charles II. In 1682 Jean Colbert invited Mercator to assist in the design and construction of the fountains at the

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, so he relocated there, but a falling out with Colbert followed. Mathematically, he is most well known for his treatise ''Logarithmo-technia'' on logarithms, published in 1668. In this treatise he described the Mercator series: :

\ln(1 + x) = x - \fracx^2 + \fracx^3 - \fracx^4 + \cdots.

To the field of music, Mercator contributed the first precise account of 53 equal temperament, which was of theoretical importance, but not widely practised.Benjamin Wardhaugh (July 2010
A Plague of Ratios
from Mathematics Association of America He died at Versailles in 1687.

Works

* 1676: ''Institutionum astronomicarum'', London (1685, Padua) * * Kinkhuysen (1661) ''Algebra ofte Stelkonst'', translated by N. Mercator, appears 1968 in ''Mathematical Papers of Isaac Newton'' II: 295–364 with Newton commentary 364–446. * 1664: ''Hypothesis astronomica nova'', London * 1666: "Certain problems touching some points of navigation",

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society'' is a scientific journal published by the Royal Society. In its earliest days, it was a private venture of the Royal Society's secretary. It was established in 1665, making it the first journa ...

1: 215–18 * 1668
Logarithmo-technia
from

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o
Logarithmtechnia
from

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

* Wallis (1668) Review of ''Logarithmotechnia'', ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society'' 3: 753–9, followed by "Some further Illustration" by N. Mercator, pp 759–64. * 1670: "Some considerations … method of Cassini", ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society'' 5: 1168–75.

References

* Euclid Speidell (1688) * Francis Maseres & Charles Hutton (1791
Scriptores Logarithmici
link from

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. *

John Aubrey John Aubrey (12 March 1626 – 7 June 1697) was an English antiquary, natural philosopher and writer. He is perhaps best known as the author of the '' Brief Lives'', his collection of short biographical pieces. He was a pioneer archaeologist ...

(1813) ''Letters and Lives of Eminent Men'' II: 450,1, 473

External links

Some Contemporaries of Descartes, Fermat, Pascal, and Huygens: N. Mercator
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mercator, Nicholas 1620s births 1687 deaths People from Eutin 17th-century German mathematicians Music theorists Fellows of the Royal Society