Not much to do with a ship, but also interesting for shipstamp collectors is the stamp issued by Portugal in March 2002. One stamp depict a ship of that time.
Pedro Nunes was born in the year 1502, though we do not know on precisely which date. He was to become Portugal’s greatest mathematician. More than this: due to the fact that he used Latin, which was, at that time, the universal language, this Portuguese scientist enjoyed the privilege of knowing that his work was read, studied and followed by his foreign colleagues.
A native of Alcácer do Sal (he himself used the term “salaciense”. Nunes was educated at Portuguese schools but studied at the University of Salamanca, where he took a degree in Arts and studied Mathematics and Medicine. He taught in Lisbon and later, in Coimbra, he tutored the Infantes Luis and Henrique, the later becoming Portugal’s Cardinal-King. In 1547 he was appointed Chief Royal Cosmographer.
He has bequeathed an important phase of development and only managed to emancipate itself with the advent of the chronometer and double reflection instruments that emerged in the first half of the 18th century.
Wishing to participate in the commemorations for the 5th centenary of the birth of the greatest Portuguese mathematician, CTT – Correios de Portugal has issued a set of three stamps to mark the occasion.
In addition to a stamp with a fictional portrait – fictional because the iconography of the period, though rich in works of sacred art has not left us one single image of Nunes. A second stamp recalls the rumb line or loxodromic curve, which is perhaps Nunes’s greatest discovery, and represent the route taken by a ship that maintains a steady course. This was to lead to the famous Mercator projection map, which made it possible to plan in advance maritime voyages very precisely and in two dimensions and to record the movements of the ships as they moved on the spherical surface of the globe.
Without doubt the most emblematic invention by Nunes was the nonius, which made it possible to achieve fractional readings of the smallest division on the scale of a measuring instrument (the nonius was designed for use with the astrolabe). Hence, the third stamp features a representation of the only instrument that has survived until today that incorporates the Pedro Nunes concept, which is in the collection of the History of Science Museum in Florence. Very complicated in its conception, the nonius would later be developed by other learned men in the field and a century later, Pierre Vernier invented the movable part that was added to the countless measuring instruments in use until today. In many countries, this practical development is still know as the nonius, paying just homage to this Portuguese scholar.
Portugal 2002 0.28 and 1.15 Euro sg?, Scott 2474
Copied from the CTT post website.