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Melchisédech Thévenot
French scientist (1620-1692) · France · On the map · Scientists · Died at 72
Melchisédech or Melchisédec Thévenot was a French writer, scientist, traveller, cartographer, orientalist, inventor, and diplomat.
Melchisédech Thévenot is read about 20 times a day, in 10 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 24 June 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 60 days, one point a day.
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Photos 4
A photo of the marble floor inlaid into the Amsterdam Town Hall showing Nova Hollandia and Terra Dimensis - the inlayer incorrectly connected the two, while the original Blaeu map shows the gap.![Hollandia Nova, a 1663 map from Thévenot that popularized - and probably invented[5] - the idea of the 135th meridian east forming the eastern border of New Holland.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/90/Thevenot_-_Hollandia_Nova_detecta_1644.png/1280px-Thevenot_-_Hollandia_Nova_detecta_1644.png)
Hollandia Nova, a 1663 map from Thévenot that popularized - and probably invented[5] - the idea of the 135th meridian east forming the eastern border of New Holland.
Nova Archipelagi Orientalis Tabula, J. Blaeu, 1663: "Papas landt or Nova Guinea, Nova Hollandia, discovered in the year 1644, Nova Zeelandia or New Zealand reached in 1642, Antoni van Diemens land found in the same year, Carpentaria, thus named after General Carpentier, and still other lands, partly discovered, are shown on this map."
Nova et Accuratissima Terrarum Orbis Tabula, J. Blaeu, 1664.Awards
About this person
He was the inventor of the spirit level and is also famous for his popular posthumously published 1696 book The Art of Swimming, one of the first books on the subject and widely read during the 18th century. Benjamin Franklin, an avid swimmer in his youth, is known to have read it. The book popularized the breaststroke ; he was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1990. He also influenced the founding of the Académie Royale des Sciences.
