Martin Behaim was a German mariner, astronomer, philosopher, geographer.
Background
Martin Behaim was born on 6th of October 1459 in the Nuremberg region of Germany. He was the son of a wealthy merchant named Martin Behaim and his mother was Agnes Schopper. His father was a renowned merchant and was also selected to be a senator in the year 1461. He succumbed to death in the year 1474. When Behaim’s mother died in the year 1487 when he was just 13 years of age, he was looked after by his uncle Leonhard and a friend of the family Bartholomew von Eyb. He was the eldest of the seven children born to his parents.
Education
Behaim went through a normal childhood education. He studied mathematics with a well-known mathematician and astronomer in Germany named Johann Mueller. Later he traveled to Antwerp and some other places to study and became an apprentice in weaving at Flanders in the year 1477. He traveled extensively to gain commercial and business knowledge.
Career
Behaim joined his father in his merchant travel across Western Europe and joined in the textile business. It was in the year 1480 when he reached Portugal and got interested in the council of King John II. He also met Christopher Columbus at the place. It is stated by John Noble Wilford that Behaim exaggerated about his skills to impress the king of Portugal. Though, with his good knowledge in mathematics he could secure himself a position in the court of the king.
He joined the court of mathematicians sometime around the year 1483 and was allotted with several assignments by the king. Being good in navigation, he was asked to improve the existing instruments used for the purpose of navigation. It is stated that Behaim helped determine the ship’s altitude by using Levi ben Gerson’s cross-staff apparatus which worked on the logic of coordination between the horizon and the sun. This principle was used to improve navigator’s astrolabe. It is stated that Behaim asked to create the astrolabe in brass rather than with wood which was been used then.
In the following years from 1485-86, Behaim joined Diego Cam in his voyage to explore the west coast of Africa. On the way returning from the trip, they stopped at Fayal in the Azores where Behaim stayed for many years.
Behaim had begun his globe creation in the year 1491 with $75. An artist named Glockenthon had helped with creating the map as specified and detailed by Behaim. The finished globe was called ‘Erdapfel’ and was preserved in the city hall in Nuremberg. The German National Museum took the ownership of the globe later. It was less than 21-inches in size and was supported on a wooden tripod. It is believed that Behaim might have consulted with Hartmann Schedel, a German humanist as well as his acquaintance Columbus in the creation of the globe.
After completion of the globe, Behaim reached Portugal in the year 1498. He worked for Netherlands and Belgium as an emissary. It is stated that he traveled to multiple countries while in Portugal and was even made captive by the English and taken to Britain. He somehow escaped from Britain and returned to Portugal where he spends the remaining part of his life.
He died in Lisbon, Portugal, on 29th of July, 1507. Behaim death took place in the worst of the circumstances while he had become very poor and in a hospital.
Martin Behaim is remembered as a great mathematician and an astronomer who created the Nuremberg Terrestrial Globe under the patronage of King John II. This is the only glove which survived until the 21st century, represented the world known in the year 1492.
Behaim’s improvements of the navigation instruments were very well taken and impressed with his work. He was the first who tried to create the astrolabe in brass. It also seems likely that he helped to prepare improved navigational tables of the Iberian Peninsula.
There is no explicit information on Behaim’s political view.
Personality
Behaim comes across as a good businessman and a skilled merchant like his father.
Connections
In 1486 he married D. Joana de Macedo, who was the daughter of the governor. It is also mentioned that Behaim had a son from his wife who was born in the year 1489.
