Martin Behheim is an experienced mathematician and astronomer who made the first model of the globe. He was born in the small German city of Nuremberg around 1459 in the family of a wealthy merchant.
Biography
From a young age, the future scientist gained experience with 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 ended up in Lisbon, where he quickly gained favor at the court of King Juan II. There he was lucky enough to meet Christopher Columbus.
Unfortunately, there is a great likelihood of false information about his education at Mueller. Martin Beheim could simply invent many stories about himself in order to have a positive impression on the king of Portugal. However, he demonstrated wide knowledge in astronomy and mathematics, and his work in Portugal proved King Juan his competence.
Service
In 1483, taking advantage of his knowledge, Martin Behheim took up the position of researcher at the court. In addition to the main work, he was engaged in the improvement of existing navigation tools.
What Behheim did special remains a mystery, but it is believed that he used the transverse rod of Levi ben Gershom to determine the breadth of the ship. The instrument turned out to be a suitable complement to astrolabe in combination with Johann Muller's tables of declination of the sun.
Despite the fact that by the 1480s, local scientists had used the table of the declination of the sun quite well, Behem's invention was taken very positively, and already in 1484, King Joan II ordained him to the Portuguese knights of the Order of Christ. After he is invited to take part in the expedition of Diego Kama as a cosmograph. The scientist does not refuse, and in 1485 begins a study of the West Coast of Africa.
On the way back, the expedition was stopped on the Azores. There, the famous Martin Beheim stayed for a short period of time, and then married the daughter of ruler Jobst von Herter. In 1490 he returned to Nuremberg.
