Edward Wright (about 1561 to 1615) was an English mathematician and cartographer who produced one of the most useful calculation tables of his age. His book Certaine Errors in Navigation, first printed in 1599, explained the mathematical basis of the Mercator projection and set out a table of the scale factor for every minute of latitude up to 75 degrees, which is in effect a table of the integral of the secant function and made Mercator charts practical for navigators. He was educated at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, became a fellow there, and later translated John Napier's 1614 work introducing logarithms from Latin into English, so that English readers could use the new calculating method. In this atlas he is a maker of numerical tables.
Facts
Contribution Kind Notable WorkCertaine Errors in Navigation 1 Connections
Affiliated With
Source Edward Wright (Wikipedia)
In Field
Source Edward Wright (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
Nationality
Also in Geography Atlas: the nationality of this subject.
Source Edward Wright (Wikipedia)Lead, nationalityQuote, Lead, nationality
was an English mathematician and cartographer noted for his book Certaine Errors in Navigation
Sources
1. Edward Wright (Wikipedia)
Lead, dates
Edward Wright (baptised 8 October 1561; died November 1615)
Lead, nationality
was an English mathematician and cartographer noted for his book Certaine Errors in Navigation
Lead and career
set out a reference table giving the linear scale multiplication factor as a function of latitude
Works
noted for his book Certaine Errors in Navigation (1599; 2nd ed., 1610)
Affiliated With: University of Cambridge, Lead
educated at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
View the SourceReader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.