Wright, Edward

1561-1615. English mathematician and cartographer. Edward Wright's world map of 1599, published in 1600, coupled with his 1599 book "Certaine Errors in Navigation" corrected errors in Mercator's projections so that rhumb lines appear as straight lines. It led to the adoption of the Mercator projection by navigators, creating charts on which courses could accurately be plotted. His book laid out methods for creating such charts. His work would have been known by early New England explorers like Gosnold, Pring, Waymouth and Smith.