Today in 1580 saw the birth of geographer, Robert Gordon of Straloch, near Inverurie, Aberdeenshire.
The first graduate of Aberdeen's Marischal college, Gordon's devotion to geography and the antiquities of Britain led to his eventual celebrity. At this time, there were only three maps of Scotland in existence, which were inaccurate and dissatisfactory. Gordon was the first to make geographical surveys of Scotland by mensuration, a tedious and laborious process never undertaken by any of his predecessors. Following this success, in 1641 King Charles requested Gordon assist the Dutch publishers of Blaeu's Atlas, using Timothy Pont's original maps of Scotland as a base, for the Scottish section of the celebrated atlas. The University in Aberdeen was named after Gordon's namesake, his grandson (1655 - 1732), who achieved wealth as a Danzig merchant.
