Background
Adriaan Anthonisz was born in 1541 supposedly in Alkmaar, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.
1611
cartographer engineer mathematician politician surveyor
Adriaan Anthonisz was born in 1541 supposedly in Alkmaar, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.
There is no information on what kind of education did Adriaan Anthonisz receive.
Adriaan Anthonisz was a cartographer and military engineer for the States of Holland, and between 1582 and 1601 he was burgomaster of Alkmaar several times. In an unpublished pamphlet, Tegens de quadrature des circkels van Mr. Simon van Eycke (1584), he gave, according to his son Adriaen (1625), the value of 355/113 for what we now denote by stating that it differs from the true value by less than 1/100,000. He obtained it by averaging numerators and denominators of the values 377/120 and 333/106. (This value had already been obtained by Tsu Chung-chih in the fifth century.) Anthonisz built fortifications in the war against Spain, drew charts of cities and military works, and wrote on sundials and astronomical problems. In the receipt for his burial the name Metius, adopted by some of his sons, is mentioned, The origin of the name is uncertain: some derive it from Metz, others from the family name Schelven (schelf = rick = Latin meta), it may also simply be related to metiri (to measure).
Adriaan Anthonisz is regarded as one of the first military engineers to apply the principles of the Dutch fortification system. Some of his professional accomplishments included mapping the Berger lake and expanding and fortifying Naarden and Muiden. For his contribution to the flourishing of his city, he was honored with a statue made by John Bier in 1996, placed at the Noorderkade in Alkmaar in 1997.
Anthonisz and his wife Suida Direksd had one daughter and six sons, of whom two, Adriaan and Jacob, became widely known.
