Mathematician:Nicholas Mercator

Mathematician

German mathematician who designed a marine chronometer for Charles $\text {II}$ of England, and designed and constructed the fountains at the Palace of Versailles.

Known for the Newton-Mercator Series.

Not to be confused with Gerardus Mercator, the cartographer.

Nationality

German

History

• Born: 1619 or 1620 in Eutin, Holstein, Holy Roman Empire (now Germany)
• Died: 14 January 1687 in Paris, France

Theorems

• Mercator's Constant, also known as:

Gregory's Constant, for either James Gregory or Grégoire de Saint-Vincent

the alternating harmonic series

• Newton-Mercator Series (independently of Isaac Newton, also discovered by Grégoire de Saint-Vincent)

Results named for Nicholas Mercator can be found here.

Definitions of concepts named for Nicholas Mercator can be found here.

Publications

• 1651: Trigonometria sphaericorum logarithmica
• 1651: Cosmographia
• 1651: Astronomica sphaerica
• 1653: Rationes mathematicae subductae
• 1653: De emendatione annua diatribae duae
• 1664: Hypothesis astronomica nova
• 1668: Logarithmotechnia
• 1676: Institutiones astronomicae (2 volumes)

Also known as

Nicholas Mercator was originally named Niklaus Kauffman (or Kauffmann). He later changed his surname to Mercator, the Latin form of merchant.

Nicholas is variously rendered Nicolaus, Nikolaus or Niklaus.

Sources

• John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "Nicholas Mercator": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive

• 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Mercator's series