engineering

Johannes Corputius

Johannes Corputius is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Johannes Corputius rather than just read about it. In short: Johan van den Corput (also van (den) Kornput, also Cornput or Johannes de Corput, in German literature Johannes Corputius; April 1542 – September 17, 1611) was a Dutch engineer, cartographer, and military leader. Corputius was born in Breda.

Key takeaways

Johannes Corputius belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Johannes Corputius to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Johannes Corputius from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Johan van den Corput (also van (den) Kornput, also Cornput or Johannes de Corput, in German literature Johannes Corputius; April 1542 – September 17, 1611) was a Dutch engineer, cartographer, and military leader. Corputius was born in Breda. He is the author of the well colored Corputius Plan, which shows the city of Duisburg from the air, completed in 1566. He died, aged 69, in Groningen.

Biography

Johan van den Corput was born in April 1542 in Breda, in the Low Countries (now the Netherlands). He was a Dutch engineer, cartographer, and military figure active in the later 16th century. In 1566 he created the Corputius Plan, a detailed, coloured bird's-eye view of Duisburg, then in the Duchy of Cleves (now in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany). The plan, the earliest known map of the city, depicts Duisburg within its defensive walls and surrounding waterways and is noted for its high level of detail and precise measurement, while preserving the city’s late medieval layout. He died on 17 September 1611 in Groningen, in the Dutch Republic (now the Netherlands), aged 69.

References

Literature

Dutch literature Jan Pieter Johannes Postema: Johan van den Corput: 1542-1611; kaartmaker, vestingbouwer, krijgsman, summary in English, Kampen: Ijsselakademie, 1993, ISBN 90-6697-063-4

German literature Jan P. J. Postema: Johannes Corputius (1542-1611); Kriegsmann, Kartenzeichner, Festungsbauer; in: Kraume, Hans-Georg [ed.]: Duisburger Forschungen 35, Duisburg: Braun, 1987, p. 26-50; ISBN 3-87096-046-9 Der Duisburger Stadtplan des Johannes Corputius von 1566, Multimedia-CD-Rom, ed.: Gerhard-Mercator-Gesellschaft e.V., Duisburg 2002 Duisburg im Jahre 1566: der Stadtplan des Johannes Corputius (=Duisburger Forschungen 40), ed.: Joseph Milz / Günter von Roden, Duisburg 1993. ISBN 3-87096-051-5 Heike Hawicks: Der Duisburger Stadtplan des Johannes Corputius von 1566, vom frühneuzeitlichen "Werbeprospekt" zur modernen Multimedia-CD-ROM, in: Duisburger Forschungen 51, Duisburg: Mercator-Verl., 2004, p. 225-234, ISBN 3-87463-377-2 Frosien-Leinz, Heike: Der Corputius-Plan: Kommunales Selbstbewusstsein und Werbemittel, in: Frosien-Leinz, Heike [Red.]: Von Flandern zum Niederrhein: Wirtschaft und Kultur überwinden Grenzen; Begleitband zur Ausstellung, ed.: Stadt Duisburg - Die Oberbürgermeisterin, Kultur- und Stadthistorisches Museum Duisburg, 2000, p. 87-100, ISBN 3-89279-560-6 Joseph Milz: Der Duisburger Stadtplan des Johannes Corputius und seine Vermessungsgrundlagen. In: Cartographica Helvetica Heft 11 (1995) p. 2–10, ISSN 1015-8480, Volltext Archived 2011-10-02 at the Wayback Machine, reprint in: Kraume, Hans Georg [ed.]: Duisburger Forschungen Band 45. Duisburg: Mercator-Verl., 2000. p. 1-23. ISBN 3-87463-295-4 Joseph Milz: Die Vermessung des Duisburger Stadtplanes von 1566 durch Johannes Corputius, in: Hantsche, Irmgard (ed.): Der "mathematicus": zur Entwicklung und Bedeutung einer neuen Berufsgruppe in der Zeit Gerhard Mercators [Referate des 4. Mercator-Symposiums, 30. - 31. Oktober 1995], Duisburger Mercator-Studien 4, Bochum: Brockmeyer, 1996, p. [227]-250, ISBN 3-8196-0474-X Joseph Milz: Neue Quellen und Forschungen zu Johannes Corputius, in Duisburger Forschungen, Band 31, ed.: Stadtarchiv Duisburg in Verbindung mit d. Mercator-Ges. [Für d. Schriftl. verantwortl.: Joseph Milz], Duisburg: Braun, 1982, p. 117-125, ISBN 3-87096-042-6

External links Media related to Johannes Corputius at Wikimedia Commons

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Johannes Corputius

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Johannes Corputius claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Johannes Corputius before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Johannes Corputius ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Johannes Corputius

In research: Johannes Corputius appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Johannes Corputius in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Johannes Corputius is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1542 births, 1611 deaths, 16th-century Dutch cartographers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Johannes Corputius outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Johannes Corputius in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Johannes Corputius means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Johannes Corputius out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Johannes Corputius in simple terms?

Why does Johannes Corputius matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Johannes Corputius?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Johannes Corputius.