Martin Behaim

Merchant, navigator, and geographer
Martin Behaim was a navigator, merchant and geographer whose Nürnberg Terrestrial Globe, the Erdapfel, is the earliest globe extant. In his youth he entered into cloth trade in Flanders, and first visited Portugal on business about 1480. Supposedly, Behaim was a pupil of the astronomer Johann Müller at Nürnberg, and as such became an adviser on navigation to King John II (r. 1481 – 1485). He made improvements to the astrolabe, then used in navigation to ascertain the altitudes of the Sun, Moon, and stars in order to deduce time and latitude, by introducing brass instruments in place of cumbrous wooden ones. He probably did some practical research of the west coast of Africa (1485–86) with Diogo Cão.

In 1490, Behaim returned to Nürnberg where he began constructing his globe with the help of the painter Georg Glockendon and finished it in 1492. The globe, named Erdapfel, is considered to be the oldest surviving terrestrial globe.