Alphons J. van der Grinten

World map after A. van der Grinten

Alphons Johann van der Grinten (born April 10, 1852 in Kranenburg (Niederrhein) , † June 21, 1921 in Chicago ) was a German-American cartographer .

Van der Grinten came from Frasselt and was the son of a miller and baker. He graduated from the Collegium Augustinianum Gaesdonck . He then studied engineering at various polytechnic universities (there is evidence of study visits to the universities of Aachen and Karlsruhe ). After emigrating to the USA in 1881, he became a US citizen in 1887 and married a woman from a German immigrant family in 1889. In the USA he worked as an engineer and cartographer, the latter for the Rand McNally company, among others . He became known for the Van der Grinten projection for the production of geographical maps.

literature

• Siegmund Schulz: Van der Grintens images of the earth in world atlases. In: Dieter Knieke et al. (Ed.): Festschrift for Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kurt Brunner on the occasion of his retirement from active service. University of the Federal Armed Forces Munich, Neubiberg 2012. (= series of publications by the Institute for Geodesy of the University of the Federal Armed Forces Munich. 87.) pp. 213–222.
• Siegmund Schulz: Alphons J. van der Grinten. On the trail of his life. In: mosaic. Journal of family research and local history. 35th year 2014. No. 2. pp. 2-15.
• Siegmund Schulz: A modified Van der Grinten projection - for the 110th anniversary of the US patent of the original version. In: Cartographic News . 64th year 2014. No. 4. pp. 211-218. ( Abstract .)

Web links

• Literature by and about Alphons J. van der Grinten in the catalog of the German National Library
• US patent 751,226 (PDF; 151 kB)
• Hans Rühl: Frasselter achieved world fame with Globus . In: Rheinische Post . June 24, 2014.