October 6

Martin Behaim was born on the 6th in 1459. As an adult, he acquired a stellar reputation as a navigator and geographer. Actually, it would be far more accurate to say that he manufactured a stellar reputation for himself. He was in the habit of taking credit for the accomplishments of others. His work as both a navigator and a geographer, upon scrutiny, had about as much to do with Behaim’s work as Clifford Irving’s autobiography of Howard Hughes had to do with Howard Hughes. There was only one problem with Behaim’s claim that he introduced the cross-staff, a rather primitive astrolabe, to Portugal. A minor problem really: Levi ben Gerson had done that little number in the late 14th century or early 15th century. In Behaim’s defense, however you have to give him credit for dressing well and he had great hair and those qualities more than make up for all of his academic failings.