April 2

Abraham Ortelius was born on the 2nd in 1527 in what is known today as Belgium. His life’s work, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Theatre of the World, is widely considered the world’s first atlas and made him quite famous. While the atlas wasn’t nearly as accurate as any over-the-counter GPS system, you really have to give the guy a break. He was, after all, working in the freaking 16th century for crying out loud. The atlas would go through more than 25 editions in various languages before Ortelius’s death on June 28, 1592.