John Dee, Queen Elizabeth I's astrologer, who claimed Welsh descent, also wrote texts on mathematics that offered definition of the subject of cosmography.
Cosmography is a term also associated with the Flemish cartographer, Mercator, who published his own atlas that included corrected versions of the maps first produced by Ptolemy.
"You can argue that the Global Positioning Systems (GPS) in use today are a modern form of cosmography as they combine geography and astronomy to give users precise locations, " said the doctor.