Martin Beheim is an accomplished mathematician and astronomer who made the first model of the globe. He was born in the small German city of Nuremberg in about 1459 to the family of a wealthy merchant.
Biography
From an early age, the future scientist gained experience from the famous astronomer and mathematician Johann Muller. In 1477 he began to travel to Western Europe, was engaged in trade, and then studied weaving in Flanders.
Without losing interest in travel, in the 1480s he found himself in Lisbon, where he quickly gained favor at the court of King João II. There he was fortunate enough to meet Christopher Columbus.
Unfortunately, there is a high probability of unreliability of information about his education from Mueller. Many stories about himself Martin Beheim could have just come up with to make a positive impression on the king of Portugal. However, he demonstrated a broad knowledge of astronomy and mathematics, and his work in Portugal proved his competence to King João.
Service
In 1483, using his knowledge, Martin Beheim takes the position of a researcher at the court. In addition to his main work, he was engaged in the improvement of existing navigation tools.
What specifically Beheim did remains a mystery, but it is believed that he used Levi ben Gershom's cross-rod to determine the ship's latitude. The instrument proved to be a suitable addition to the astrolabe when combined with Johann Müller's sun declination tables.
Despite the fact that by the 1480s local scientists used the declension table of the sun quite well, Beheim's invention was received extremely positively, and already in 1484 King João II ordained him a knight of the Portuguese Order of Christ. After that he was offered to take part in the expedition of Diego Kama as a cosmographer. The scientist does not refuse, and in 1485 he begins to explore the West Coast of Africa.
On the way back, the expedition was stopped in the Azores. The famous Martin Beheim stayed there for a short period of time, and then married the daughter of the ruler Jobst von Herter. In 1490 he returned to Nuremberg.
Nuremberg Globe
Martin Beheim's Globe is the first known model of the globe made since the time of the ancient Greeks. The astronomer has been creating it for over a year, starting in 1491.
The card was originally depicted in six colors. Dark blue colors showed the sea, green - forests and steppes, brown - mountains and lands. Often the image was supplemented with drawings - the water straits were decorated with mermaids and water ones.
Martin Beheim made a contribution to science using the descriptions of Ptolemy in the 11th century, the writings of Mark Polo, and, most likely, he used the maps of Henrik Martell Hermann.
